Twenty20 Vision - Mushtaq Ahmed - Review
Methuen
Publishing Ltd ISBN 0413776255 (October 26th, 2006) Buy
It Now
Mushtaq Ahmed's new book “Twenty20
Vision” arrived on my desk last week and given
the amazing number of ashes books coming out at the
moment and that the great competition is only a month
away now, I didn't know if I had time to read it. It's
not a book I would normally read but I have to say I
was pleasantly surprised and thoroughly enjoyed it.
 Last
year I read a book called “Worth
The Wait” by Darren Lehmann co-incidentally
by the same publisher Methuen and the style of writing reminded me of that book. Mushy's
book was very easy to read just like Lehmann's and I
felt he gave an honest account of his life and career.
You can't get much more straightforward than admitting
both his father and coach beat him when they were displeased.
Who better to confirm this than his Pakistan captain
and legend Imran Khan.
Throughout the book , the level of quite
often intimate details is astonishing and the fact that
a bowler of his stature isn't afraid to give away his
tactical secrets when trying to take a wicket is to
be applauded – good job he's not just starting
out or he might fail to take any wickets ! He also touches
on the ball tampering debacle but I'll come to that
later in the review.
He was brought up in a family with five
brothers and five sisters and lived small district two
and a half hours from Lahore where the main products
were buffalo, cows and cotton. The family relied solely
on his father's wage for money while his mother looked
after the family. It really was a tough upbringing and
despite the lack of money in his family, he had to endure
a father that was not supportive of his passion for
cricket. Mushy would often find himself in trouble with
his parents and teachers, once secretly staying away
from school for more than 20 days to play cricket. His
father eventually relented and bought him his first
bat costing 300 rupees and would go and watch him as
much as he could, even though Mushy asked him not to
as he struggled with form.
Practical jokes were something that
has always been close to Mushy's heart, although he
was more often than not on the receiving end! Two examples
from the book spring to mind; the numerous aftershave
bottles emptied over his room and trying to steal skippers
underwear – Javed Miandad was the instigator!
As a youngster the first year was all about culture
clashes and his inability to operate the lift in his
first hotel as part of the Pakistan squad showed this. Buy
It Now
He talks candidly about the captains
he played under and no one receives more praise from
Mushy than Imran Khan who bolstered his confidence by
telling him he wouldn't have to worry about his place
in the side as far as he was captain. Miandad on the
other hand was a different type of captain and he freely
admits he didn't enjoy playing under him compared to
Imran. His third captain was the great Wasim Akram in
1992-4 and again in 1995-9, he was also a great friend.
As a captain however he felt as if Wasim tried too hard
to be like his predecessor Imran Khan and he simply
failed to succeed, more often than not coming across
rude.
Despite nine player forcing Wasim out
of the captaincy in 1994, when he returned as captain
in 1995 Mushy says he felt Wasim was a changed man and
the best captain he has played for after Imran. Comparing
this book with Lehmann's for upfront honesty, I applaud
Mushy for his coverage of some of the controversial
situations in his career not least the drug scandal
in Grenada in 1993, match fixing allegations and the
ball tampering row which he vehemently denies.
It was 1992 when Pakistan were touring
England that the controversy of reverse swing reared
its ugly head. Because of the amount of movement in
the air and the terrific results they were getting ,all
manner of accusations were thrown at the Pakistan bowlers.
“When Pakistan was
accused of ball-tampering, the cameras would all focus
on Wasim and Waqar's hands to see if they were cheating,
but they should have been looking at their technique
because this was the key to their success. At the time
the ball was given a little 'negative treatment' and
this offered them some help".
He goes on to say “looking
after the ball is an art and it relies on the use of
dry areas of the pitch and the odd fingernail. I do
not see it as a problem in cricket."
14 years later and although Mushy wasn't
involved, the subject of ball tampering once again made
its way to the front and back pages due to Darrell Hair
accusing the Pakistan team of ball tampering. The Test
match was awarded to England following Pakistan's failure
to take to the field. It was later proved that there
was no evidence of any wrong doing by Pakistan as many
of us had known all along. Hair is yet to officiate
in an international game since the August Test.
This book is a frank, gritty and honest
account of a true ambassador to Pakistan and world cricket
and comes highly recommended. Buy
It Now
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