HOW HE GOT THERE

November 5, 7.30 am
“Want to earn some extra money?” teammate R asks me at breakfast table. “Extra!” I wonder. “Ya. It’ll be good. You could go for a holiday in Switzerland with the money,” he says.
“Bad joke,” I say with a smile, concentrating on my toast. “No. I’m not joking, I’m serious,” he insists. “Arre that’s a lot of money. My family hasn’t earned so much in five generations,” I laugh him off.

11 am
“Boss, you don’t have a choice. A and W have agreed. Talks are on with S and F. S will agree I’m telling you. Don’t act like a stupid. Everyone’s earning. Why should you miss out?” R tells me my room.
“What are you talking about? I don’t understand,” I tell him bluntly.
“You seriously don’t understand?” R’s surprised.
“No.”
“What a simpleton you are, Inshallah!” he says, and locks the door. “Don’t you know what the lords of the sting did? They are suspended all right but do you know how much they earned? Much more than I’m offering you.”
“I don’t do all those things. I can’t ditch my country. I won’t do all that. Besides, this is highly un-Islamic. I won’t do anything napakh,” I tell him clearly. Being a senior player, he must have thought I am a greedy young cricketer.
“Is that your last word?” R, palpably angry, asks me.
“Absolutely,” I confirm.
He sits silent for a second. Then reaches for his mobile phone and calls up somebody: “Mian, this guy is refusing… I haven’t yet told the money but he says he won’t do it for anything… Napakh and all those bogus stuff he’s saying… Ok, you come over, see if you can make him understand.”
“K is coming. He’ll tell you. You should have agreed by now. He is angry. I’m not responsible for what’s going to happen now,” says R.
I can’t believe my ears! K is into all this? I always thought cricket is his second religion. I know he’s very particular about discipline and hardwork. He doesn’t miss one namaz on non-match days. There’s a knock on the door as I am submerged in my thought. R opens it and in comes K.
“What? You think you are a saint? What’s your problem? You’ll be at the crease with the last man today. Make sure we lose. You’ll pocket $ 10,000. Extra if you drop catches or miss stumpings. Are you happy or you want more?” K shouts even before I can open my mouth.
“No, money is not the issue. I just don’t want to do it. It’s wrong, it’s immoral. You know it,” I utter with a little bit of hope that K will change his mind.
He doesn’t. He grabs my collar instead, and says: “To hell with your morality. I’m offering you jannat. Take it or I’ll show you habia dozakh. Everyone we need has come on board. If you don’t, today’s match will be the last you play for Pakistan. And don’t forget you’ll have to return to the country. Nobody will be able to save you. The man who has made this offer is very influential. You have no idea how much power he has.”
He pushes me on the bed and says: “I want your answer before the match starts. You also have to help us lose the last ODI,” and leaves. R leaves with him.
Lying on the bed, I realise what a huge trap I am in. I can’t do what they are asking me to but the way things have been set up, I can hardly stop them from doing what they want to. What to do?

2.30 pm
I have made up my mind. I have talked to my wife and brother. They’ll support me in whatever I do.

Midnight
I hit the winning runs. I have seen to it that my motherland is not sold. The way some of my colleagues looked at me told me I have hurt their cause, which means I have done the right thing.

November 6, 10 pm
I has stopped talking to me. So have the others. This atmosphere is killing me. Everybody is normal in front of the TV cameras but inside the hotel nobody is talking to me, nobody is sitting beside me. Am I somebody who has a contagious disease?

November 8, 9 am
I am scared. I have no shame in admitting that I am scared. Anybody who wants to live shall be scared in my position. I got an sms from an unknown number telling me my days on the earth are over. For not letting Pakistan lose, they are going to kill me. Where could I go? I don’t know who’s on my side, who’s to be trusted. But I know who are not on my side. So I decided to run away. I have. I have been able to fool everybody to get my passport and am on a plane to London. I know their hands are really long but I think I’ll be safer in London than in Dubai or Karachi. But I’m worried about my family. I hope they can join me safely soon.

N.B. The piece above is a piece of imagination. Likeness to any actual event is purely co-incidental.