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Last and final call for Younis Khan.

by Gaurav Sethi

By now you know that Younis Khan could be on the next flight to Sydney. He’s been on standby ever since the Melbourne test went according to plan, that is abysmally wrong. Younis being a Pak ex-captain was expecting this; he had his bags packed as he heard S&G’s Homeward Bound backwards.

Till tea, fourth day, the test has had only one flow; after tea is when it reverted to a classic Pak test, ebb, flow, ebb and flow, and sometimes flow and ebb.

It was in the post tea session that Younis was put on high alert; he was on call. The smile was back as he patted random travellers and high fived a few youngsters at the Karachi airport. He urged his mobile to ring, a call from MoYo, even his ringtone had been changed to the appropriate, “AHJA AHJA…AAAH!” (come, come…come!)

To be honest, the phone did ring a few times. Each time Younis started to gyrate like some Bollywood nymph, and then just when he was through with his item number, the phone would stop ringing.

Deal is, after a wicket, a partnership had started to develop. The first phone rang at 18/1 when Farhat fell. And as Younis took his time to take the call, Salman Butt and Faisal Iqbal already got into partnership mode.

It is known that MoYo can change his mind abruptly; his shenanigans of calling and then disconnecting, not something new, ask Kapil Dev if you don’t believe me.

Of course Younis called MoYo back, whose ringtone was appropriately “Kabhi haan, kabhi naa” ('times yes, 'times no); as expected MoYo didn’t take the call. Why would he, that’s not the nature of the beast.

And then, Butt played across to one; MoYo was mortified – how could he, this chokada? Padded and set to walk out, MoYo decided to call Younis one more time, and tell him, “Arey, board kar plane, kayamat aah gayi hai yahaan…”

But did he get to tell him? Younis’ phone rang, and how he danced, he knew Butt was gone; he was still enjoying the replay on the giant flat screen, doing his gig, beaming, high fiving random travellers.

Now even though it wasn’t a T20, you still have to get there and bat. Why wasn’t Younis answering – MoYo was going mad. Misbah muttered from behind, “Ja yaar, Ja”

Always being in two minds, MoYo walked with bat, and mobile phone. But that incident the Late Cronje had with the Late Woolmer; ear implants are disallowed; and MoYo chucked his mobile in disgust.

As it wasn’t a 3 Mobile, the sponsors didn’t take the call. Elsewhere, Younis wildly repeated, “Yousuf bhai, Yousuf bhai…bhai??!”

But all he could hear were abusive Aussie kids, and drunken wankers. A rare black sea pearl shaped tear drop appeared, and then disappeared; it was as if Younis had never cried.

Almost ten overs later when Faisal fell, Younis’ hopes rose…MoYo asked for a drink, the drink came, he asked the drink’s boy for his mobile, but the mobile never came.

It was trampled upon by the drinks’ boy, who kept telling his mates, “my feet are talking – strange airport announcement sounds” They thought he was mad.

Fifty four runs and no wickets later, MoYo and Umar Akmal returned, to fight and call another day – Younis meanwhile sits in the Terminal, thinking about that Tom Hanks movie he once saw. Can cricket imitate the movies?

2 comments:

Bhaskar Khaund said...

Ha ha :-) what must have really hurt was Faisal Iqbal, a.k.a. The Nephew , suddenly doing enough to stay on for some more time ...(bet YK's almost feeling like what The Uncle made our Chetan Sharma feel :-) ...on another note : very early days but ...impressed with the youngsters mhd. aamer and umar akmal

Gaurav Sethi said...

The first three are write offs, they know it. They're Chetan-ed every time they go into bat.

Aamer and Umar are top draw, I'm following this match because of them. And of course, MoYo's grin.