Sanath assault leaves General Musharraf stunned

by Rex Clementine

General Pervez Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008 died in a Dubai hospital on Sunday aged 79. He was a cricket buff, a friend of Sri Lanka and a visionary leader.

The 2008 Asia Cup was the last major cricket tournament that Pakistan organized. With India too participating in the event, security was paramount and General Musharraf didn’t take any chances. The teams travelled from hotel to ground with roads fully closed to the public and maximum security had been provided to the teams. Pakistan failed to make it to the finals. Yet, General Musharraf turned up for the game. Security was tight at the stadium. Nobody takes smoking seriously in Pakistan but that day with General Musharraf arriving bags were thoroughly checked and lighters, boxes of matches, and cigarettes were confiscated.

Briefly, after the game started, General Musharraf appeared waving his hands at the packed stadium. The people of Pakistan loved their military dictator.

The game itself was a bit of an anti-climax. India were running away with it as Sri Lanka slumped to 66 for four. M.S. Dhoni was calling the right shots, Sanga, MJ and Dilshan were all back in the pavilion without doing much damage.

Dhoni perhaps knew the job wasn’t done as his team had to still dismiss a certain Sanath Jayasuriya.

Sanath was past his prime at the age of 39 but he wasn’t going to go down without a fight. With fielding restrictions over and more gaps to find in the 30 yard circle, Sanath started picking up singles and then the boundaries followed. He finished on 125 off 114 balls with nine fours and five sixes. It was some hitting. Nevertheless, it didn’t fetch him the Man of the Match award. But why? Because this was Ajantha Mendis’ game. Destiny would have it that the rookie spinner bamboozle the famed batting line-up comprising Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa. Yuvraj wondering in disbelief after being bowled neck and crop is one of the best images in the sport. Mendis took six for 13 and Sri Lanka won by 103 runs to be crowned Asian Champions. Then, General Musharraf wanted to visit the Sri Lankan dressing room.

Our copies were delayed and the desk was screaming that we had failed to meet the deadline as the press conference was held up. This was before the WhatsApp era and you had to depend on IDD calls which were very expensive.

Pakistan’s leader spent a good half an hour with the Sri Lankan boys. This is where he famously told Sanath Jayasuriya that he had never seen anyone giving the Indians a good hiding like that. The military top brass who had accompanied the Pakistan President burst out laughing. The Sri Lankan players at that point didn’t understand what General Musharraf was trying to convey. Later they were told that Musharraf had fought two wars with India as a young soldier. Musharraf was born in Delhi in 1943 and moved to Pakistan at the time of partition.

In 1998, as Prime Minister Nawaz Sheriff had differences with the military, his close confidants recommended Army’s reigns to be handed over to Musharraf. Soon, he was made a four-star general and although he was third in command of succession, his academic brilliance and popularity among the public saw the PM elevating him to the top post of the army.

However, soon there were differences between the PM and the Army Chief. General Musharraf was in Colombo in 1998 to participate in Sri Lankan Army’s golden jubilee celebrations. When he returned home, the PM didn’t allow the aircraft carrying the Army Chief to land. Nawaz Sheriff did some moves to remove Musharraf as the Army chief. But Musharraf outsmarted the PM telling his generals to get hold of key strategic government institutions. Having gained control of the situation, his flight landed in Karachi and he went on to rule Pakistan for nine years.

General Musharraf fought Islam extremists and was a key ally of the US in their war against terror in Afghanistan. He is credited for modernizing Pakistan but his western allies were quick to criticize him for his human rights record. General Musharraf was a friend of Sri Lanka. During the height of the war, when the government felt the pinch unable to buy costly war equipment, he generously helped the Sri Lankan military. He was a maverick. A man ahead of his time. After losing power, he spent most of his time in Dubai where he passed away.