I repeat, we have a serious problem!

Being from the same age group as Ahmad, I can totally relate to his thoughts. Before I go into an additional analysis, I think it is appropriate to unwrap a little of my own past.

I was born the youngest of three brothers. Not only are my brothers active sportsmen but also very keen and capable cricketers. I was born in Lancashire, England and from a very young age I would see myself fielding in the deep whilst my brothers would be playing with their friends. While my initial contributions were limited to running after the ball and bringing the drinks, the typical 12th man, occasionally I got to bowl or have a go with the bat. However, being part of the team was the big thing.

As I write this, my memories come back of the time playing in the back garden of my house, with my elder brother. Six years older than me, he was a diehard Imran Khan fan. He was keen to look like Imran, bat like him and more importantly bowl like him. In the aim of wanting to achieve this he would ask me to bat whilst he would bowl on our drive way, trying to copy Imran’s action and shooting those balls down the driveway at me … again and again and again!

A few years on, my parents moved to Lahore. This opened a completely new perspective in relation to the beautiful game, the passion and craze witnessed in this cricket mad nation. Every Friday my uncle would get the extended family together and we would play 25 over games with a cricket ball. These matches would be intense, toughly fought and played with passion. I was about 11 at the time and although this would be a friendly match between relatives, for me every time I went out to bat I wasn’t playing against my cousin, friend or uncle but I would be day dreaming that I was in an international match representing Pakistan against one of our rivals. Day dreams were made in that cricket field about achieving the ultimate objective, play for Pakistan!

It was at this age that I was picked up by none other than the great leg spinner and legend Abdul Qadir who happened to be a family friend. Qadir saw me bat and managed to convince my father to allow me to take coaching from him and join his cricket club. My poor mother would drive me miles every day for the net practice to a place within old Lahore (Dharampura) where Qadir’s cricket club was. I was amazed at the talent I witnessed there and within weeks my game transpired into something special. I continued to play at quite a decent standard till I relocated back to the UK played for my university. Sadly, due to a back problem and pressure from family to focus more on studies, I didn’t really fulfill my ambition to play international cricket wearing a green shirt.

OK, so where is this discussion going as it appears I have gone off on a tangent!?

Well, here’s the twist …

My birth place is England, I hold a UK passport, I require a visa to travel to Pakistan and apparently get one every time I go there. However, I live and breathe Pakistani cricket (those who don’t know my blood group yet, read an entry from the past: Cut me open and I bleed Green!). I believe there is no bigger Pakistani fan than me and that’s the kind of attitude I have when it comes to supporting my team, although I have a feeling Ahmad will have a word with me about this statement in private.

When it’s any other game, including football, I passionately support the three Lions (England). So why a kid born in the UK (and like me tens of thousands others), who have spent more than 75-80% of their lives in the UK would so passionately support Pakistan? The answer isn’t just the ethnic background. If it was why wouldn’t I support Pakistani football (OK, I admit Pakistan cricket is pretty poor at times as well!)?

The reason is simple and it is the role models. I wanted to be Imran, I wanted to be Wasim, I wanted to be Waqar … Miandad, Inzi, Saeed Anwar, Salim Malik (not the fixing part), Mohsin Khan … and the list goes on. There were so many heroes, so many role models. I never wanted to be Bob Willis, Graham Gooch, Alex Stewart or Alan Lamb. With all due respect, they were good cricketers but not great cricketers. They were not in the same league as Clive LIoyd, Viv Richards, Steve Waugh, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Richard Hadley and many others with that superstar status. It is absolutely the role models that define future cricketers, the millions playing in their backyard, in their family cricket matches, school games, club crickets but aspiring to be playing international cricket always have a role model they aspire to be … I was no different!

So coming to Ahmad’s call to base-camp for the problem at hand (Houston, we have a problem!) about current role models for Pakistani kids … seriously, who are they? Are there any at all? I don’t think they (the kids of today, future of tomorrow) have much of a choice to select from other than maybe, maybe a select few …

How does one fix this problem? I don’t know the answer and I shall leave this open for a debate but one thing I do know is that I am so glad I grew up in the 80s and the 90s when I had a variety of great cricketers to pick from …