Wounded Tiger: A History of Crickets in Pakistan (Hardcover)

Pakistan emerged out of the conflicts during the Partition of India in 1947. Its cricket team was born out of chaotic and desperate circumstances, to carve a niche in a field that they virtually had little chances in. At its conception, Pakistani cricket was feeble, unsupported and underfunded. It boasted no great stars and it looked like it would vanish like the ripple it was. However, out of its desperation, the team grew into a major world player of the gentleman’s game. Players such as A. H. Kardar, Fazal Mahmood, Hanif Mohammad, Majid Khan, Javed Miandad, Abdul Qadir, Wasim Akram and Imran Khan have wowed audiences throughout the world, winning the hearts of cricket fans across the subcontinent and beyond. Cricket was once the sport of the Raj, but in independence, all the free states took up the game to test the vainglory of those who were once their rulers. Pakistan too rose undeterred in its initial setbacks, forming a team that was hard to ignore. Soon, it became a force to reckon with, and a force as unstoppable as the Rawalpindi Express. However, Pakistani Cricket continues to have its fair share of problems. It shares its limelight with the shadows of controversy, and it blends its own triumph with its tribulations. From terrorism to corruption, the game has faced it all. Since 2009, the team has begun to hide from the fear of violence, and there is still no sign of a comeback. However, Pakistan has faced worse odds before, and it has emerged. If history has anything to prove, it is this: the tiger will roar again, and when it does, it will return Pakistan to the game, for a honest chance at trying its hand, forgetting the darkness behind it.

About Peter Oborne
Peter Oborne is a British journalist known as the chief political commentator of the Daily Telegraph and associate editor of the Spectator. He has also written The Rise of Political Lying and The Triumph of the Political Class.
Oborne’s biography of the cricketer Basil D'Oliveira won the British Sports Book Awards (Best Biography) and the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award.