Karachi Chronicles Chapter 19

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. After three amazing weeks in Karachi we finally packed up and took one last armoured escort back to the airport. Goodbyes always suck, and this case was no different. Chatting to our entourage, as we prepared to leave the hotel complex for the final time, I could only think how this would be my last time here. Trying to drink everything in for one concluding moment, I was emotionally spent from trying to live every minute on this trip of a lifetime to its fullest.

Not that I'm a massive people person but I've been fortunate enough to have had the privilege to live abroad. This isn't some kind of humbrag (as the slightly younger adults would say), I've just been lucky, especially considering I couldn't gamble my way out of a wet paper bag. I just love experiencing what this only world we have has to offer and somehow the stars have aligned a couple of times to let me embrace it.

Once you’ve been to a new place, it’s incredible how quickly you adapt and everything soon becomes routine. Essentially, the common thread I've found is that every location is beautiful in its own way. However, like any venture, you either experience it or you hear a filtered version from someone else. In our case, I'm not going to claim we had the same completely unfiltered experience that a solo backpacker might have had. We did nevertheless break down some barriers and challenge a number of stereotypes that tend to exist.

That’s not to say we didn’t drink in a myriad of things most people won’t see over their short innings on this dust ball we call Earth. Saying our final goodbyes, I realised even though we spent our time in a security bubble, we had still witnessed this unique place. This was an added bonus beyond our primary objective of simply bringing cricket to a place where it is absolutely revered. Additionally, the logistical success of our tour had also undoubtedly paved the way for future trips.

Needless to say, the accomplishments of this tour had a lot to do with the local staff that accompanied us throughout the trip. Leading the charge, was our Liaison Officer Maz. Initially, he was tied up on our day of arrival, due to the South African Women’s tour overlapping with ours. Once they departed, on our second day in Karachi, Maz moved on to his next role as our Liaison Officer. He would spend the remainder of our sojourn working around the clock to ensure our stay went well.

Maz, is understandably a cricket tragic and has had a long history with the game. From playing to coaching, he is also an experienced chaperone for touring teams. I loved his positivity and also low key appreciated him sourcing a number of gut care products during the trip. He was also a massive Steve Paulsen fan, which I'm sure no one would hold against him. It always brought a smile to my face when everyday he would bring up his stats or replay his latest innings to all the lads mid game.

We were also fortunate enough to have a team photographer, Nasir. After following us daily for the duration of our stay, he was off to India just three days later. His mission, was to accompany the Pakistan team on their journey at the ICC Cricket World Cup. This is just another example of the calibre of people they had looking after us on our trip. His work was phenomenal and he would always get a specific shot if you asked him. After the tour, he even rang me up at 3 a.m. Australian time when the Aussies won the World Cup. When I didn’t answer because I was sleeping, he sent me a multitude of high quality Travis Head action shots that he'd just snapped.

Probably the biggest character of our support crew was Sohail, who took on the role of team physiotherapist. With his stern and serious appearance, he vaguely reminded me of a certain soup connoisseur from Seinfeld but with a more quirky side. As someone who looks way more angry than I actually am, I know what it's like to be born with a stern look but that’s out of anyone's control. Also as someone that’s never quite fit in wherever I go, I seem to naturally gravitate towards these kind of interesting humans.

Sohail has rubbed the shoulders of many great players over the years. Most impressively is probably that of the "Little Master," Sachin Tendulkar. Quite often rushing around, on many occasions I couldn’t fully understand exactly what he wanted. In short bursts of over enthusiasm he also often messed with my set up when I was carrying the drinks. Not to sound like I'm criticising because he was just trying to help out but as I've talked about before we needed an efficient system when running water. All that aside, I really liked having him around. He put all his effort into looking after the lads and was a vital part of the squad.

It didn’t take long to get to know him and there were so many moments where he had me in stitches from his antics. Sometimes his enthusiasm to try our products didn’t always go to plan. From attempting to use hand sanitiser for breathe freshener or applying deep heat as sunscreen there were a few memorable mishaps and close calls. All the while, still being readily on hand for one of his pre bowling massages or with an icepack for the neck. By the end of the tour he was racing us out to the middle, supplies in hand, getting stoked by making an appearance on the live telecast.

In hindsight, I regret being slightly under prepared and not taking more things to give to the locals and support staff. This was mainly due to a few people being so negative about the tour that I almost believed we wouldn’t go. Unfortunate as that was, it only takes a small amount of bad energy to sow the seeds of doubt. Anyway, after rationing my limited supplies, I was most delighted to give my last Tintenbar East Ballina club hat to Sohail at the closing ceremony. It was a pleasure to have him around, sharing a heap of laughs and I really enjoyed chatting about a myriad of things during our trip.

These fantastic local support staff are what absolutely made the experience top shelf. If anyone still has doubts that travelling to play cricket in Pakistan is a worthy undertaking, then I guess there is no convincing them. There won’t be many other places in the world where you can go as an amateur cricketer and be treated like a professional squad. I’m sure this will pave the way for a number of future tours. For this I am proud, but I also believe the more tours that visit this amazing place the better the future will be for all the wonderful locals.

After finally leaving the city behind, as we spent the last couple of hours in Jinnah Airport waiting for the flight home, I tried to get rid of my last few rupees. That would prove to be quite easy as many of the shopkeepers were more than enthusiastic to see me. At one point, I even had a bloke screaming across the terminal at me to come into his fairly stock newsstand. Eventually, I had to resort to holding a one hundred rupee note close by so I could feign that I only had about fifty Australian cents left.

Now, not so guarded about my guts anymore, I decided to shell out for a few last minute snacks. After missing the sweet treats of Rehmat-e-Shereen on the way in, I was delighted to find they had a shop just past customs, which I dutifully tucked in at. Soon after I scored a Pakistani lapel pin*, while narrowly avoiding being sold a whole sheet of them from another overzealous shopkeeper. Next, I would order my last supper in Karachi. Rolling the dice and ordering a MacKay burger, no doubt named after my bra Jughead, I would be left waiting for a while. Eventually the fried chicken for my burger arrived in a bucket from the basement and I reluctantly ate it without any consequences.

Not long after, we boarded a completely full flight, which was a much different experience to the final leg on the way over. I did also notice that many people were getting turned away at a secondary immigration screening after the initial passport control. While I was in the line, three separate young men had their passports scanned through an eye glass, before subsequently being escorted from the scene. It’s not my place to hypothesise about what this means but was interesting to observe.

After a short flight to Sri Lanka and a quick stopover in Colombo, in the blink of an eye we were on the way back towards home. Just for a final test of my resolve, I found myself wedged in the middle of a four seat row with a random family I didn’t know. Separated from the boys and exhausted from the trip, all I could do was zone out and think about how every second that ticked by would bring me closer to my family. Relieved and triumphant at surviving the trip that many said we wouldn’t even go on, I took a moment to reflect on what had just occurred.

Just going to the country of Pakistan was a victory in my eyes. Without being too self serving, taking cricket to a place that adores the game is something that will stick with me for the rest of my life. Overcoming so many obstacles and riding my luck to represent the country is also another truly memorable achievement that I will be forever grateful for. Just to sweeten this even further, on a personal level, managing to take ten wickets at an average of seventeen for the trip rounded out the experience.

As always the time passed much quicker on the way home and in what felt like only a few moments we breezed back through customs in Melbourne. Milling about for a while, the crew finally said their goodbyes and briefly reflected on the lifetime friendships that had been forged. After one final leg back to Brisbane, I was filled with relief, embracing my family once again. Knowing I'd returned to familiar territory, embracing my young boy meant more than the result of any game ever could.

So I guess, this is as good a point as any to close out the Karachi Chronicles. I think this tour was ground breaking as it showed that taking amateur international cricket to Pakistan is logistically possible. It should open the possibility for future tours to the area, which I would recommend to any serious and open minded cricketer. I couldn’t picture many other places in the world that you could travel to as an amateur and get treated like a professional. Without a doubt this was the trip of a lifetime, from which I’ve made many friends and experienced so many life changing moments.

In conclusion, to wrap this up, I just want to say a heartfelt “shukriya bhai†” to all the people that made this tour possible. Also, I must extend my gratitude to the people of Pakistan for having us and treating us so well. I look forward to seeing the growth of touring in the country as more international teams start visiting this fantastic destination again. All the best and I look forward to seeing you on the field soon.

* Close consolation for not being able to source a Pakistan patch locally, see Chapter 9.

† Shukriya bhai means thank you brother in Urdu, the lingua franca of Pakistan.