About a year ago, Pakistani cricketer turned commentator Rameez Raja landed in hot water during the post match conference of a Pakistan Super League match. Raja asked Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal, who was adjudged the man of the match, if they could speak in English. “Tamim, I can’t speak your language. What then? English?” Raja said. It was widely assumed that the former Pakistan captain was suggesting that Tamim did not speak English and Bangladeshi fans and the media erupted over the perceived insult.
Play
Cut to 2017. After a hugely impressive win against Sri Lanka, when the entire nation was going gung ho about their team’s remarkable rise, Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed was in a quandary. He had just pulled off an amazing victory and yet when he had to speak about it in front of the media, a nervous Sarfaraz was caught on the video asking whether all the reporters around him spoke only English. His words “Saray English Ke Hain kya (Everyone here is from English news?)” gave trolls on social media a chance to revive the history of Pakistani cricketers stuttering when it came to speaking English. Perhaps because language is hugely dependent on ethos and historically, the majority of Indian players have had better exposure to a society conversing in English, which is not always the case in Pakistan.
Interviews a byproduct of good performances, not vice versa
However, the important point to be noted in both the instances – Tamim Iqbal and Sarfaraz Ahmed is that the two were being interviewed after making their bats talk, and that is all the language a cricketer needs. The interviews were a byproduct of their good performances and not vice versa. The entire purpose of a press conference is to get insights from the players, and if language becomes a barrier while answering the questions, the purpose fails. At the end of the day, it is the reporter who needs answers, not the cricketer.
To those criticising Sarfraz Ahmed's English. His job is to win cricket matches not speak perfect English #CT17 — Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) June 13, 2017
Captain Gopinath, the founder of Air Deccan, had said something very profound about language and the inherent purpose it should serve. It is just a way of communication, it is not communication. What matters at the end of the day is how competent one is in their respected fields and if actions are indeed louder than words, who cares about words anyway? We have given far too much importance to the English language,players and establishments need to understand that there has to be a line drawn somewhere and perhaps that time has come.
Why not make translators a norm?
While the International Cricket Council has time and again come up with innovative technology for the game, it is also a moral responsibility of sorts on their part to provide translators for teams that are not well versed in English. Although we have seen translators and interpreters on some occasions, –Hassan Ali had one after the semi-final against England – it is yet to become a norm. If not the ICC, Pakistan Cricket Board’s public relations team should arrange for the same.
In almost all global sporting events, translators have been a norm because addressing the press in one’s mother tongue should be a matter of pride and not shame. South American and European footballers speak in their native language and being are appreciated for the same. In the Ultimate Fighting Championship as well, you will find that many of the top fighters are from Brazil and their press conferences in their native language bring nothing but adulation.
Indian cricketers faces the issue too
Not to forget, there are several Indian cricketers who are jittery when it comes to conversing in English. From the earlier crop of stars, Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag used to be noticeably hesitant speaking the language before the camera during their heydays.
In fact, we’ve seen this hesitancy even with some of the current players. When a young Indian side toured Zimbabwe under MS Dhoni, Barinder Sran snapped 4/10 on his Twenty20 International debut to win the Man of the Match award.
When the Zimbabwean presenter asked Sran if he would respond to his questions in English, the then 23-year old — a farmer’s son who studied in a Punjabi-medium school till class 12 — sportingly called over teammate Mandeep Singh to act as the interpreter. Nobody batted an eyelid at that.
Content matters, not the colour
We have often cribbed when a so-called Bollywood flick churns out colossal sums of money, because content and quality falls by the wayside and glitz and glamour takes precedence. It’s the same in Ahmed’s case; not knowing English does not diminish the quality of cricket his team has played.
There is no harm in laughing at the fallacies of others, if it is all done in good cheer. But when it becomes nasty, as it did on social media in India after the video went viral, it has to be nipped in the bud. Remember, cricket is a game played between the 22-yards, and whatever transpires before and after the event is only for the colour. Content matters, not the colour, players matter, not their language, bat and ball matter, not the microphone.
Until then, even if Pakistan falter at the last step on Sunday, “well played boys!”