Over to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
After 1,681 runs and 28 wickets the second Test Match between India and Pakistan ended in a draw of the kind which drives cricketer-turned-analyst Imran Khan up the wall.
Asked to comment on the world’s fastest bowler Shoaib Akhtar declining to turn his arm over towards the end of the match, Imran quipped, “I would have gone on strike myself if I had been asked to run in and bowl on such a flat pitch!â€
Imran even wondered why Pakistan’s foreign coach Bob Woolmer had not strategised a wicket more suited to the bowling skills of the home team.
The first two Tests at Lahore and Faisalabad had, Imran said, turned out to be one big yawn! Despite being a hard-core fan of Faisalabad’s best known citizen, the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Imran did not suggest that the angrai (yawn) could have been alleviated had the cricket been replaced on the last day with a full-throated recorded version of the celebrated singer rendering Angrai peh angrai leti hai raat judai ki/Tum kya samjho, tum kya jano baat meri tanhai ki. In the Sufi tradition, ishq, as in love, derives from the sangam of earthy passion and divine ecstasy!
Cricket and Nusrat also have something in common. The singer became a celebrity when Imran, who was then the skipper of the national team, invited him to perform for a select gathering.
“I get spiritual comfort whenever I listen to Nusrat,†Imran stated. The singer’s fame spread across the border when he performed at Rishi Kapoor’s wedding reception in 1979.
Nusrat subsequently sang many songs for Bollywood movies and even scored the music. He also fulfilled his dream of singing at the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti. Sufi poet Amir Khusrau once said that music was the fire that burnt heart and soul. Which makes it an ideal super sub for that other subcontinental passion called cricket!
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Article from : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1389947,curpg-2.cms
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