Spotlight on Javed Miandad

Javed Miandad
By Fair Play
September 18 2004

Learned PakPassioner Fairplay, sheds some light on former Pakistani player, captain and coach Javed Miandad. An interesting assessment of the man in question.

The topic is Javed Miandad, outstanding player of his era, statistically Pakistan's best batsman ever, and no shrinking violet. After he was appointed and discarded as coach, there has been much debate about Javed's motivations. Some feel he is driven by seflish reasons, at least in conjuction with ambitions patriotic, while some feel that while he may have some personal idiosyncracies, his purity of puropose can never be doubted.

One point nearly all agree with is that Javed was a real fighter on a cricket field. Almost implicit is the acknowledgement is that Javed fought for Pakistan - a point Javed is rarely bored about telling us.

I have followed Javed's career with interest - and there was never a reason to suppose that Javed ever gave it less than his best on the day (though Wasim Akram had his doubts during the 92-93 tour of the West Indies). I'm not sure Javed had the discipline to stay as fit as he could be - so I'm not sure he made the most of his considerable talent. Instead he relied on the level of talent he had, plus his instinct for a scrap to fight it out on the day. These two attributes ensured that Javed remained one of cricket's top players - though perhaps not realising the potential he had. It's certainly my view, though it will be in the minority here.

This reliance on talent and the desire for a scrap meant that Javed often became a dogged player - often no bad thing from Pakistan's point of view. We saw less and less of his extravagant stroke play as years rolled by - in fact many times Javed was fighting to score 20 off 70 balls when the quality of the bowling and conditions would have dictated twice as much. He was fighting for Pakistan no doubt, but Javed was often fighting for himself as well.

This is no bad thing - at a deep level every sportsman does it. But Javed has acquired a holier than thou image, partly through our admiration for his fighting spirit, and partly by his own theatricals. Javed has always wanted to hog the limelight, and the easiest thing to do was to assert how he gave his all for the country. "Ask what you can do for your country..," said JFK in his famous speech, but Javed has elevated to it "Look what I have done for my country!" Not even the most in your face ex-cricketers have done that (Kapil Dev excepted, it seems to be a Pakistani speciality) - Javed's cheekiness is unparalleled, just as it was in his batting. Neville Cardus once observed, rightfully so in my opinion, that the cricketer is so often the man, so lets examine Javed the cricketer as well to see if there were glimpses of the man some are now tiring of.

To me there was the fighter who made 129 not out at Perth in 1979, and who withstood West Indian assaults to make 60 and 70's that were far more important than any centuries he reeled off against India or Sri Lanka on Fasialabad dustbeds. If Javed's sole aim was to fight for country than perhaps he would have been less motovated on the less challneging occasssion - say in county cricket or a double wicket challegne in India. But no Javed was as competitive as a person can be no matter what the occassion. This in itself is admirable and a unique quality, but it gives lie to the claim that Javed was primarily driven by his undying love for Pakistan - a fact which he, unique amongst most cricketers, is often fond of forcing down our throats. Admittedly his mentor Hanif Mohammad talks along the same lines, but these men are few and far excepted. Whither modesty Javed?

Watching his cricket over the years, apart from his may outstanding performances, it is also clear that Javed mattered a great deal to himself. Often in easy conditions, Javed would promote himself to score a hundred or two, or refuse to play higher up the order though Pakistan might have preferred it. Javed had little of the self sacrifice element about him, and one can argue that in the end it was all to Pakistan's ultimate benefit. What I do not believe is that it was Javed's primary goal.

Now that some people have started questioning Javed the man the time is right to ask the question of whether he has ever been the man some thought him to be. By which I mean a selfless and patriotic fighter out there on Paksitan's behalf. He was certainly out there - but to my mind he has often been driven solely by personal ambition. It's a good thing that on many occassions his personal ambitions and selfishness coincided with Pakistan's best interests.

None of this make shim any less of a cricketer, or less interesting a man. In fact, it is often more enlighhtening to see the real person as he is, rather than ascribe him saintly status. Javed is a complex person, ready to brawl, ready to provoke, ready to take, and ready to proclaim. He has always been that, and one day, a good biographer, will make us see the real Javed. It would make for compelling reading - far more interesting than the public icon he helped to create.