Our special guest this week is Osman Samiuddin, a senior editor at ESPNcricinfo and author of The Unquiet Ones: A History of Pakistan Cricket.
One of the finest contemporary cricket writers, Osman has had a ring-side view of the triumphs and disappointments of Pakistan cricket over the last two decades. His match reports, profiles, and long-form features are both timely and timeless, both a work of journalism as well as a first draft of history.
Talking Points:
- Growing up in Saudi Arabia and learning about cricket
- Pakistan in India in 1986-87 – watching the series on VHS tapes
- Tape ball cricket in Karachi
- The impact of The Cricketer Magazine in Pakistan
- Falling in love with Pakistan cricket in the 1990s
- Afridi’s fastest hundred, Basit Ali – the new Miandad, Asif Mujtaba’s last-ball six
- Osman’s first cricket interview – with newly appointed captain Rashid Latif
- Interviewing Wasim Akram, covering the 2003-04 India tour and the 2005-06 Pakistan tour to India
- The commission to write a history of Pakistan cricket – and the challenge of finding a structure
- The tumultuous years in Pakistan cricket: 2006 to 2010 – Inzamam’s walkout, Bob Woolmer’s death, terrorist attack on Sri Lankan cricketers, spot-fixing…
- Traveling around Pakistan, and feeling a sense of belonging
- Fazal Mahmood’s crazy confidence
- Imran Khan’s influence on fast bowling – the seminal spell in Sydney in 1977
- Javed Miandad and the quest for Izzat
- Wasim Akram – the hero and a cricket writer’s ideal
- The Pakistani tendency to pull of wins from hopeless situations – the phenomenon of Haal
Participants:
Osman Samiuddin (@osmansamiuddin)
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)
Related:
Pakistan’s quicks get into the swing with tennis balls and electric tape – Osman Samiuddin – The Guardian
Ode to a magazine – Osman Samiuddin on The Cricketer Magazine – ESPNcricinfo
Saleem Malik’s 72 (36) in Eden Gardens – YouTube video
Shahid Afridi’s hundred off 37 balls – YouTube video
Basit Ali’s 127 (79) against West Indies in Sharjah – YouTube video
West Indies win in Bridgetown in 1988 – YouTube video
Pakistan in 1999: the allure, the magic, and the heartbreak – 81allout podcast with Ahmer Naqvi and Hassan Cheema
From Mushtaq to Misbah: a journey like none other – 81allout podcast with Nadeem Farooq Paracha
The Imran Khan’s I’ve Known – Osman Samiuddin – The Cricket Monthly
The Haal of Pakistan – Osman Samiuddin – The Guardian
Miandad’s last ODI hundred – YouTube video
Imran Khan’s 10/77 in Headingley – YouTube video
Pakistan v India, Bangalore, 1987 – YouTube video
Rahul Bhattachaya on Wasim Akram’s ball to Rahul Dravid – The Cricket Monthly
India v Pakistan, Chennai, 1999 – YouTube video
Akram’s hat-trick in Dhaka, 1999 – YouTube video
Akram’s 5/49 in Antigua, 2000 – YouTube video
England v Pakistan, Lord’s Test, 1992 – YouTube video
Shoaib Akhtar 6/30, Wellington, 2003 – YouTube video
Mohammad Asif’s six-for in Sydney, 2010 – YouTube video
Books discussed:
The Unquiet Ones: A History of Pakistan Cricket – Osman Samiuddin
Pundits from Pakistan – Rahul Bhattacharya
On Warne – Gideon Haigh
Beyond a Boundary – CLR James
War Minus the Shooting – Mike Marqusee
Not quite cricket – Pradeep Magazine