NAPIER, NEW ZEALAND // No side playing at this World Cup have enjoyed such a rapid and unchecked advance over the past two years as the UAE.
That is due in the most part to the job Aaqib Javed has done in the time he has been at the helm as head coach of UAE cricket.
Given the national team operate in international cricket’s margins for most of the time, the progress that has been made might have gone unnoticed by those in the mainstream.
What would make everyone else sit up and take notice, though, would be a win for the UAE against Pakistan in Napier on Wednesday.
It is a long shot, of course, but it is not beyond the realms of possibility. Win a good toss, and anything could happen against a Pakistan side who are just as capable of internal combustion as any of their predecessors.
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If it were to come to pass, then Aaqib would surely have good claims for being regarded as a candidate to be the next coach of Pakistan.
If this fixture is a job interview, though, then the man in charge of UAE cricket is not agitating for it.
“Now I am not looking for any job, I am happy with what I am doing,” Aaqib said.
“I was happily working with Pakistan and we had just beaten England 3-0 with me as bowling coach in 2012.
“It was quite difficult for me when I said to the chairman [of the Pakistan Cricket Board] I am leaving.
“He said, ‘No, you can’t.’ He was a very close friend of [Asif Ali] Zardari, who was the President of Pakistan at the time.
“I spoke to a few people and said to them, ‘Can you please tell them not to mess with this. I want to move on’.
“I had worked for them for more than 12 years, done reasonably well with the Under 19s and the T20 World Cup.”
The old country
This is not the first time in this tournament a former international player will be plotting the downfall of his homeland.
Grant Flower oversaw a win over Zimbabwe from the opposition dressing room, as batting coach of Pakistan.
Phil Simmons also jumped to the head of the queue of candidates to be the next West Indies coach when his Ireland beat the Caribbean side at the start of the World Cup.
“I have no divided loyalties,” said Simmons, who played 143 ODIs for West Indies. It is a sentiment Aaqib shares.
“Playing against Pakistan or any other side, it is not going to make any difference,” Aaqib said.
“I have no emotional attachment. I’m not an emotional person.
“I am a team man. I never think about Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Indian or Pakistan. Some of my best friends were from the Indian team.
“People say it is difficult to bind West Indies together because they are from different islands, but look at UAE.
“They are Pakistanis, Indians, Sri Lankans and locals sitting as a side playing together, binding like one team.
“When you are a sportsman you should be thinking above religion and countries. You have to fight for yourself and your team.”
Wounded tigers
Aaqib says he is not an emotional person. That may be true in one sense, but it is unarguable that he — like all Pakistanis — still has an investment in their national team.
As an outside observer, he is disappointed by the form of the side at this World Cup, by the stories of in-fighting, and the indiscipline.
He says it smacks of a lack of leadership. “I’m still confused who is in charge of the Pakistani team at present. Misbah? Waqar? The manager?,” he said.
When Pakistan won the World Cup 23 years ago, there was no such accountability vacuum.
“Back in 1992, there was one guy: Imran Khan,” Aaqib said, revisiting the fabled “wounded tiger” speech, ahead of a pool match against Australia in Perth, which fuelled their metamorphosis from no-hopers to world champions.
“He came out with something unique. He convinced every person in that dressing room, we win this game and we can win the World Cup.
“He came in wearing the tiger shirt and said, ‘Look, I want to talk to you’.
“When he started we were looking at each other and thinking, what is going on? From this stage?
“He said: ‘wounded tigers get angry, don’t get disappointed.’
“We were really angry. I had the best game in my career. I felt like no one could touch me. I was saying, ‘Come on, give me the ball.’
“Everyone was charged. All 11 players in that dressing room were sensing victory and success. That is the kind of leadership you need.”
Final spoils
So infused with self-belief were they, Aaqib says they felt no pressure for the remainder of the tournament, not even ahead of the final against England.
On the evening before the game, the gang of eight closest mates in the team — which included Aaqib, Mushtaq Ahmed, Wasim Akram and Ijaz Ahmed — enjoyed a relaxed night out in Melbourne.
“We used to have such a close friendship with each other, we never missed anyone back at home. We had all our best buddies together,” he said.
“When you finished the tour and spent two days at home, you felt like, where are they?”
As such, when the momentous victory against England was secured, and Pakistan were world champions for the first time, it was only each other they really cared for.
No FaceTime, Skype or social media back then. And thus little sense of the pandemonium they had unleashed.
“We never felt what we had done after the final,” said Aaqib, who took two for 27 from his 10 overs in that final, including the vital wicket of Neil Fairbrother, and held a fine catch to dismiss Graham Gooch.
“We are world champions, oh good. But when we landed in Pakistan, hundreds of thousands of people were out cheering and smiling.
“That Pakistan I haven’t seen after that. Everyone was so happy, so proud to be Pakistani.
“We were happy as a team. When we landed in Pakistan, we realised it was more than a team.”
Fire breathing tigers
One salient side story from the final was Aamer Sohail’s sledge of Ian Botham.
The England all-rounder had been uncomplimentary about touring Pakistan previously, suggesting it was the sort of place to send your mother-in-law.
When he fell for a duck, opening the innings, Sohail, the unyielding Pakistan batsman, was quick to suggest he might have been better served sending said in-law in to bat instead.
Botham’s criticism of their country was never openly discussed among the teammates, according to Aaqib.
He is not surprised Sohail had a pop, though. Aaqib says the 1992 Pakistan side were about as feisty as anyone.
“We never discussed it, but good on him [Sohail],” the UAE coach says with a proud smile.
“We used to have a really tough team. We felt we could take anyone on. Even the Australians were wary of us.
“That was because of Imran. He made us so proud and big, we thought we were the best and had to be treated nicely.”
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