C
Syed Qalbe Muhammad
Playing cricket onboard merchant ships is like risking yourself, because you are playing between tons of steel plates and iron pipes on deck. You would be surprised to know that the wonderful thing onboard is that if Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, or Sri Lankan crew are on your ship, the first and most common link is our Urdu/Hindi language and cricket.
In my more than 15 years of sailing, when I served with V-Ships Singapore in 2011, I joined a VLCC tanker of a Chinese company where Indian, Pakistani, and Chinese crew were onboard. During a discussion with Indian colleagues, I entered a cabin whose bulkheads were full of posters of Indian cricket legends Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, and Sourav Ganguly. I also found well-published cricket magazines. I was new in the merchant navy then, but whenever I sailed with Indian crew, they invested money in cricket, offered betting on games, brought bats and balls onboard, and carried newspapers, magazines, and CDs of old matches. They enjoyed cricket a lot.
Remember, this was not the era of Indian dominance in cricket. Sometimes, if the Master and Chief Officer allowed, they played cricket in alleyways or on the main deck, even with commentary on the public address system. Other nationalities onboard would say, after seeing this madness for cricket, “These people are crazy; they will kill or hurt themselves.” To play here on the ship among iron pipes, a lot of tennis balls went into the water with no chance of retrieving them while sailing — but that is their love for the game.
I heard this environment also existed in Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC), but unfortunately, I have never worked there to date. These things were very common when the internet was not available on ships. Seafarers asked each other the score through VHF calls, walkie-talkies, and sometimes the duty officer informed the crew working on deck about the match situation via the public address system. This was truly a cricketing and healthy environment onboard if you were a true cricket lover.
Now this is no longer possible onboard as there is a lot of risk involved. All ships and seafarers are bound to follow International Safety Management guidelines and company safety procedures. Some Indian crew would discuss records of Indian cricketers, and several debates, cross-talk, and bullying happened during discussions on Indo-Pak cricket.
During my four years with V-Ships, I really enjoyed reading and writing about cricket and found several new topics. One article I recall from 2014 was about the black-and-white quota of players in South African club cricket. It was a really interesting story which I translated into Urdu and had published by my senior journalist friend Maqsood Ahmed in his sports magazine. From 2011 to 2014 in V-Ships, I found magazines, CDs, and a large number of crew and officers who took interest in cricket. During important matches, work became secondary and cricket became the first priority — calling home to ask the score and spending hundreds of dollars on it was quite normal. For engineers and motormen down in the engine room, where there were no signals or TV, they always called the bridge to ask for scores. Sometimes the phone rang every minute, and the duty officer was too disturbed to attend. If these calls came in confined waters or busy channels like Singapore, the Strait of Hormuz, Gibraltar, or other places, it was difficult to handle.
After leaving V-Ships, I sailed on small ships with very few Indian crew members. They had interest in cricket, but due to the environment onboard, I never found these things again. Unfortunately, we had a long dry dock in Sharjah, and it was a chance to cover PSL in Dubai, but the company didn’t apply for my visa. In the very next year, 2019, I met Nasser Pasha, Manager of Mian Azmat Professional Cricket Club, and Dr. S. M. Tahir in Dubai through former first-class cricketer Nadeem Yousuf. Mr. Nasser Pasha gave me some advice, and I had a wonderful time with him.
Four years ago, I was part of a takeover crew on a ship with Indian crew. On this vessel, I found a big library and, as I mentioned earlier, where there is an Indian there is cricket. I found several books on cricket, biographies of former England Captain Nasser Hussain, Andrew Flintoff, and an Australian opening batsman, along with some other books on the game.
The good thing was that the company granted us 500MB of internet daily, which was enough for watching cricket highlights on YouTube. We also spent most of our time at Khorfakkan anchorage, so we used Ufone packages. Due to sufficient internet, we enjoyed cricket despite other working difficulties.
In my last contract, a few crew members talked about cricket, but their discussion was not up to the mark. By chance, I had the opportunity to sign off in Galle, so I visited Galle International Cricket Stadium. In my ongoing contract, I watch cricket with official groups — only scorecards, stories, and comments.
For the motivation of this article, I am personally grateful to senior cricket writer Saleem Pervaiz, who provided me an opportunity to join his valuable group “Reverse Swing,” along with other group members Arshad Zaidi, Nick Cowley, Naseem Ahmed, Sohaib Alvi, Arslan Majid, Mr. Abid, and a few others. I have personally learned many things from these legends of cricket writing.
Cricket is not only a game of technique; it is also a game of literature. It is very sad to write that India is far better than us in cricket literature, investment, and passion for cricket. They still publish beautiful magazines on cricket and other sports, but our notable magazines — Cricketer, Sportstimes, Akhbar-e-Watan — are no longer published. One more drawback: Pakistan has been a one-sport nation for the last three decades, with only cricket, but we are constantly losing charm in this game as well.
Now, unlike before, no one follows cricket like that anymore because so many leagues and T20 tournaments have shifted people’s interest only to shorter formats. These stories may no longer be captured in words or memories for future sailors. This is my personal opinion, but again, credit must be given to India, as they are the best in cricket all over the world.
About the Author:
Syed Qalbe Muhammad is a senior journalist with vast experience in covering shipping and sea trade. His work has been recognized by global international organizations. He has over 15 years of experience sailing on three major types of tankers and holds a Radio Officer license.
