Reunion after 24 Years - Australia tour to Pakistan

24 years ago, some of us were not alive, fair share were in wombs and quite a few were toddlers and crying maniacally in laps of mothers. Life was simple and natural then : Social Media did not exist, mobile phone was not a thing in this part of world, and the houses having a TV were considered to be the landlords of region. Our Nation in natural spirits was booming in 90's, be it the music, be it the Sports, and even the economy was on surge. "Cricket" has continued to ran in veins of this country so much so that my mother would wake up or even some times would stay woke late in night at 3 a.m just to listen the radio commentary of matches being played in Australian continent. 

Synchronized with bloom of sports here, Cricket was also reaching new heights in Australia in 90's. Uplifted by their first world cup trophy in 1987, Kangaroos molded into 'unbeatable beasts' stuffed by giant warriors in form of Waugh brothers, Warne, Healy and co. Aussies team a galaxies of superstars, led by the brightest star, Mark Taylor, touched our homeland in winter season of 1998-99. Aussies thoroughly outclassed our "class of 90's" by winning both the Test and ODI series comprehensively. And highlight of the tour was Mark Taylor scoring an iconic 334 at Peshawar, which was then the 6th highest individual score in test innings. 

Fast forward an year to that tour, Aussies landed us a heart-break in Final at Lord's in 1999 and arguably our strongest team at any world-cups was outplayed by Australia led by charismatic Steven Waugh. By the way, this was not our first heart attack at hands of Aussies, as they upset the hot-favorite Pakistan side in semi final of 1987 WC in front of our home crowd. And the history of agony at hands of Aussies continued to haunt every Pakistani generation be it the Hussey's, the "Rahat Ali catch drop" or the Wade's as recently as few months back.

Fast forward ten years from 1999 WC final heart-crusher, toddlers were school going kids now with elder ones in colleges and universities. The world had changed massively. Phones and TV's were now a common commodity at homes and social media was making inroads in the elite cities in this part of world. On this very day in 2009, I was imitating the run up and action of Waseem Akram and randomly fake-bowling in air on my way to home from school, in excitement to see on TV, the closing session of ongoing Test match against Sri Lanka. But to utter shock, saw the shocking news of deadly attack on Sri Lankan team bus near Liberty roundabout, Lahore. SriLankan team had to be evacuated out by helicopters and planes with many of their members injured badly. In synchronization with world shifting from nostalgic and noisy nature, our home grounds were to shift from pompous and populous state to dark, desolated and deserted state. In the words of J.R Tolkein, "From the ashes, a fire shall be woken", Cricket was the only positive signal amidst the worst wave of terrorism engulfing the whole country. And Pakistan Cricket in it's true essence, "One minute Down, next minute Up" brought us the fond memories of "Shahid Afridi, Big man, big game, it's a leg-bye, who cares..." as Pakistan lifted the T-20 World Cup at Lord's, few months after the attack on Sri Lanka, much to the immediate relief of nation..

Yet our Cricket, the Cricketers, the groundsmen and whole home staff continued to suffer in isolation as we had to play our home cricket in deserts of UAE. And country continued to downfall in economic and energy crises in first half of 2010's. Yet again with political friction as high as ever before, the Cricket continued to be a sole "unifying factor" and kept delivering the goods against all the goods with Asia Cup win in 2014, Misbah lifting the mace for becoming no.1 in test cricket, and then all important Champions Trophy in 2017. And with the emergence of PSL, Cricket began to come home in 2016. But initially, the air of fear was windy enough to keep the top tier sides out of periphery of our homeland.

Cricket being such a great leveller kept increasing the confidence, and with the utmost efforts of PCB and all stakeholders, in combination with crowd kept pushing for the dream. And having been part of Lahore crowd myself in few PSL matches in 2018 and 2019, the fans and nation kept showing the resilience to see the light at the end of tunnel.

And here we are, on the same day, being perhaps the darkest day of Pakistan Cricket in 2009, to 13 years onwards, now the same day is much awaited "Chaand Raat" for Australia tour of Pakistan to begin officially. And country being deprived of so much for more than a decade, has fulfilled the "the Crown-less again shall be King" mantra and Cricket has well and truly arrived like a Queen. And the same team with which we've so many painful memories associated, is bringing smiles to the face of millions across this country and beyond and this buzz is unparalleled for a test series. 

Finally, before anyone comes up with "come on, it's just a game" narrative, I would say it's a religion for us, and you have to follow it no matter what". Well light is finally going to shine on us tomorrow and fittingly enough, whether it is Shaheen running at Warner on 10 a.m tomorrow in morning, or Starc steaming in at Babar, adrenaline going to rush for sure and it will stream away some of the painful memories. Long may it continue...