I found the following article on wisden.com. It’s a poetic tribute to Waqar and a plea to leave while we all still love him. Waqar was such an amazing bowler that I feel bad saying anything untoward about him. I know I criticized him a lot during WC but just as everyone else I love the guy. Either way, Waqar did get wronged by Wasim on quite a few occasions but he cannot compensate for that by holding on to the captaincy at the expense of Pak cricket’s future.
Waqar your status as an all-time great is reserved. It doesn’t matter what others say, we know what you mean to us. There’s still time; please, leave with respect.
Superman no longer
by Kamran Abbasi
It was Friedrich Nietzsche who proposed the concept of will to power. Have the will, and you can rise above the herd of human mediocrity and make yourself a superman. Waqar, you were superman once, back in the days when you were a toe-crusher and a stump-smasher. You were a world wonder, charging in with wristbands and headband signalling your advance. Batsmen trembled and your countrymen cheered.
A superman can pull off the impossible, and time after time you blasted Pakistan to victory when the herd had given up hope. You raised reverse-swing to a high art. Your strike rate put you on a par with the greatest bowlers in cricket’s history. Injuries came and went, broken backbones and broken toes, but you grimaced through them. Fortune came and went, selection rows and betting scandals, but you smiled them away. Your reward: the captaincy, an assignment you cherished, an assignment that filled you with pride.
Some said you were the wrong man at the wrong time for Pakistan cricket. Some said the players were not happy with your leadership. Others said you had rejoined the herd and were no longer a superman - the team could do without you. But the cricket board didn’t listen. The chairman banged heads together to rally support. He stuck his neck out, and the players fell into line. But a World Cup of promises turned into a campaign of sorrow. You chopped Saqlain and changed the batting. Your team was spineless, your captaincy lifeless, and the result a failure beyond all comprehension.
For a man of dignity that would be enough. An apology to the nation was expected. A resignation and a retirement were also part of this contract of honour. Yet you offered neither. Inzamam-ul-Haq and Richard Pybus failed, and both resigned. Saeed Anwar succeeded - and retired with reputation and honour intact. That is what a man of dignity does. But you cling on. Yearning for another assignment, offering to right your wrongs.
Will to power once again? Alas, no. You have rejoined the herd. Your bowling is friendly, not feared. For the last six months your team has been battered out of sight. Humiliated, shamed, and exposed as all mouth and no substance. You have delivered Pakistan’s worst-ever World Cup performance, and still you want more?
No man is bigger than a team. No man’s personal ambition should override a nation’s needs. No man should be as blind to his own failings as you have been. When players underperform, when there is no fight, no imagination, no panache, it is the captain who is responsible. When there is no logic to selection, no consistency in approach, it is the captain who shares the blame. When there is no success, only dismal defeat, it is an honourable captain who admits his failings.
Nietzsche said that religion arrives on earth like a raven attracted by the smell of carrion. The ravens are circling, Waqar, they smell the death of your captaincy, if not your career. Have faith in life after cricket. You have the will, but your power has faded. A true leader knows when to fall on his sword. Fall now, Waqar, or the General must put us all out of our misery. History applauds those who go with honour - and crucifies those who part in shame.
