In the Subcontinent,there was once a cricketing story told by a father to his son about a speed merchant of the North who used to roam unchallenged but when provoked act like a beast similar to an urban legend called the “cornered tiger”.Legend has it there was a tamer who contained the rage in that beast at various times especially on the cricketing field.Legend also has it that this merchant’s  father,an economics professor in Islamia College,Lahore used to make him walk 5 miles and then run 5 miles for seven years straight in a well drilled regime.The speed demon in question was a lad called Fazal and his tamer was his national team skipper called Abdul Hafeez.In 1952 a fledgling nation in the North West beneath the Himalayas called Pakistan was just entering the sport formally.

On their first ever cricketing tour of India, Fazal, faced defeat in his debut test in October 1952 and was provoked by a group of home fans in Delhi such that he went on a limb saying to change his name if he wasn’t able to avenge the loss in the next test.Abdul Hafeez, reprimanded such behaviour, though fully knew Fazal’s capabilities were central to the tour and continued to contain him.Lucknow was the venue of the second test. It was first time Fazal was bowling on a jute matting wicket intended to negate swing and speed. After seven overs of his spell, he found no luck and he switched tactics and started using the seams so that some movement was generated.Thanks to those fans in Delhi,Fazal ,with his pride at stake,never looked back and produced one of the greatest overseas hauls by a Greenshirt ever witnessed in test cricket such that it stands as a national record to this date. He produced match winning figures of 12/94 on a jute matting track.Fast bowling was finally born in Pakistan.As the story unfolded, the son’s excitation increased to recognise those two as Fazal Mahmood, the 1st ever Wisden’s Cricketer of the the Year for Greenshirts in 1955 and Abdul Hafeez Kardar who went on to captain Pakistan to 23 tests in a row and is widely recognized as the Pakistan’s “Father of Cricket ”.

A cornered tiger can sometimes indulge in unfavourable behaviour like Fazal’ s rage did then.It was insightful to learn a term from a famous Pakistani novelist Kamila Shamsie now based in London on a TMS interview at the recently Lords Test about this.The term was called “ Cacoethes” and is synonymous with Pakistan cricket particularly their batting. Speaking of the test itself,one such speed demon in question being the attention of the world’s media was making his comeback.Yes,it was the speedster Mohammad Amir and his skipper Misbah ul Haq on this occasion took the role of Kardar like saviour . Misbah controlled all of his boys on cue like Kardar used to in the 1950’s.Like Kardar’s various innings when he would for the sake of team stay for long intervals in unfashionable batting stints and play risk free innings knowing fully his wicket spelled the end of a resistance,Misbah pronged into full “pressup” mode at Lords.His 154 ball crisis ton in the 1st inning came at a time when the team were 134/4.Pakistan went on to make 339 with Asad Shafiq’s technically sound 73 in support to his skipper.

Chris Woakes troubled Greenshirts continuously with both bat and ball at Lords, picking up his first 11 wicket haul as a result. England however didn’t have it their own way batting either as stand of 111 between Cook and Root ended by the leg spin of Yasir Shah.Cook was dropped twice at 22 and 55 on both Amir’s deliveries which edged  the bat only to be spilled behind. It was understandably a nervous start  for the quickie but he gave shades of what he can do still as he finally rattled through Cook’s defences at 81.Yasir was pure  quality though with a  six for ensuring the visitors took a 67 lead.Pakistan’s second innings didn’t have an orderly start as the skipper indulged into a “ Cacoethes”of his own going for a duck leaving them at 60/4.Asad,Sarfraz and Yasir all contributed to set the target at a tall  283, considering only Windies of 1984 has achieved a successful target higher that that figure in 132 years of test cricket here.

Nevertheless,England charged ahead and made a match of it.Rahat was a God send or as back home they would say “khota sikka” as he took the top 3 out.The visitors continued to assert themselves as the middle order didn’t stay long enough to occupy a platform of resistance.The two ripping  leg breaks from the Nursery end rough  that Yasir exploited in taking Ballance and Moeen was the  writing on the wall.Bairstow and Woakes hung on and survived  the thunderbolt known as  Wahab Riaz who produced one of the spells of the match.With the ball reverse swinging memories of Adelaide 2015 in the World Cup were  rekindled.It was a reflection of what Fazal was going through in those seven overs in Lucknow with no luck.Yasir finally broke through Johnny’s defenses with him at 48 bowling him again after a setup of wider ones before the one that went straight.The tail fumbled with England losing by 75 runs.Yasir finished with figures of 10 /141 himself, the  man of the match award and now has the fastest 86 test wickets in history.Misbah stuck by his men all throughout and claimed  a 21 st win,the fastest to that number by a skipper in just 43 tests.His team fought bravely for him much like Kardar’s eleven in 1952.

Misbah controlled the rage of Pakistan fuming for the last six years with his calming demeanour just like Kardar controlled Fazal’s.Lords has granted its own redemption to Amir as he took the winning wicket,a far cry from his 6/84 in 2010,but it was just the first test back.The Greenshirts celebrated on pressups akin to the skipper’s ton reaction,with the tribute of the win to Edhi sahib being  equally commendable.The series is set to be a cracker.

They might not be like Imran, Sarfraz, the 2 W’s or the Great Fazal himself,but Wahab, Rahat and Amir and Yasir at Lord’s all withstood and exhibited in ability a testament to Fazal’s passion in Lucknow as did Misbah to Abdul Hafeez Kardar’s.Maybe in 30 years, this story will be told to the next generation as the Cornered Tigers’ return to Lord’s having their pride restored.Just like my father recited that of Fazal’s and Kardar’s to me.