Why cricket must not die in Pakistan

This Sunday afternoon while I was enjoying a snooze when I got a knock on my door, it was my brother with a bad news that ICC had rejected Mohammad Aamir and Salman Butt's appeal to reconsider the suspension. The day was already spoilt because it looked as if Aamir's return was the only possibility for the revival of the down and out Pakistan cricket team.

After the first one-dayer it was decided that from hereon I shall never take Pakistan cricket seriously. The last 15 years have been the worst for Pakistan cricket and its fans have faced all sorts of embarrassment from getting knocked out in the first round of the world cup to dropping down to number six in the world rankings in both forms. Ball tampering, match fixing, attack on Sri Lankan cricket team had all for me signaled the downfall of Pakistan cricket team. Enough is enough, I thought, I can't take it any more, I can't afford to ruin my mood all the time by watching men in green in action, or rather inaction.

However, the cricket enthusiast in couldn’t resist switching on the television for the second ODI against South Africa, hoping for some magic by Shoaib Akhtar. The ruthless Proteas didn't wait at all to exterminate all my hopes as Shoaib was thrashed for 14 runs in his very first over. The Proteas were men on mission and Pakistanis were like the wounded soldiers struggling against them. South Africa managed to set a target of 287 runs - something Pakistan has never been able to chase against South Africa.

By that time almost all Pakistan fans switched off their television sets and moved on with their routine work. I was no exception - I decided to change the sombre mood by going out for badminton with some friends. During our game, I requested my network for score alert. As expected Pakistan were 44 for 4 which was quite frustrating.

After the game, as we were cooling down, I got another friend's text mentioning that she just switched on the television and Pakistan have brought it real close. It seemed as if I was waiting for something like this and right at that moment I excused myself and rushed back home. Some 87 runs were required off 60 balls and Abdul Razzaq was batting with Fawad Alam.

It was an epic game of cricket and Razzaq played the innings of his career. During the last 15 minutes of the game I received 40 text messages from 11 different people. And as soon as Pakistan won the game I received seven phone calls congratulating me. Eid had arrived 15 days earlier; everyone was dancing and screaming as if we had won the world cup.

The entire newsfeed of my Facebook was full of status updates chanting ‘Razzaq zindabad’ and ‘Pakistan zindabad’. All those who were criticising the Pakistan cricket team for their bad performance and the wrong-doings of certain players just 24 hours back had made a U-turn. Praises all around, the entire nation was delighted. The Balochis, Sindhis, Punjabis, Pukhtoons and Mohajirs were reunited, even if only for the time being. Their prayers and celebrations were for the same cause.

Cricket must not die in Pakistan because it unites the entire nation. Pakistan is going through multiple crises and in such times cricket is one of the very few things that allow people to ignore their regional and personal differences and stand by each other.