The dilemma of being Moin Khan

Moin Khan Photo © CricInfo

Around this time last year, Moin Khan was the Pakistan captain. And although things had started unravelling for him because of a string of reverses, he was still supposed to carry the mantle till 2003 World Cup, if not beyond. Now, he has to use all his powers of persuasion, and some behind the scenes wheeler dealing, not to win back his place in the eleven, but simply to sweat along with the boys at the training camp.

That invitation was not an original idea of the selectors, but a mere afterthought. Not in the original 30, a terse one-liner two days later from the PCB headquarters informed the world that Moin's name had been added to the list of invitees. The telephone lines are said to have 'burnt' not just between Lahore and Karachi, but all the way to Cape Town too, to win this small, but crucial concession to take Moin's international career out of limbo.

But being "in the reckoning" is the easy part. With Rashid Latif keeping and batting like a dream come true, Moin's return to the eleven will take some doing. Ever so neat, compact, agile, athletic and all anticipation, with all the ingredients that make a great wicket-keeper, Rashid has looked so good with the gloves that a missed catch or stumping seems unimaginable. Of course Rashid too is human and fallible. But since his comeback there hasn't been a hint of him giving anything away. So supreme has he been that in the Sri Lankan innings of 500-plus in the Asian Test Championship Final, he conceded just one bye. A remarkable feat, considering that the Pakistani 'quicks' were spraying it short and wide until young Mohammad Sami found the line and length to claim a hat-trick.

Using the gymnastics scale of excellence, if Rashid were to be rated a perfect 10, Moin was something like 5 or 6. It was Moin's doughty batting, and some 'indiscretions' of Rashid's that he has now left behind but has the courage of conviction not to disown, that earned the former preference. While Latif's batting was even then in the classical mould, it was Moin whose ability in a crisis endeared him to the gallery and the selectors alike.

In his latest reincarnation, caused by a stroke of inspiration by the PCB chief Lt Gen Tauqir Zia, Latif is recognised as perhaps the best keeper-batsman - as opposed to batsman-keeper - in contemporary cricket. Rashid has earned this tag with remarkable consistency in critical situations, often in last-ditch stands with the tail. In the process he has improved both his Test and one-day highest scores, notching 150 in the same Test (against the West Indies at Sharjah) as he claimed his 100th victim behind the stumps.

While Moin remains second best, by a considerable distance, he does not have the ghost of a chance to wear the Pakistan cap again in the near future. Regardless of the politics of cricket (in which the south of the country has repeatedly yet inexplicably stood solidly behind Moin, although Rashid is also a native of the same cosmopolitan city), the weight of Rashid's performance is too massive to ignore.

But stranger things have happened in Pakistan cricket than Rashid being consigned to oblivion now when he is at the peak of his powers. Oblique hints that 'player power' is rearing its monstrous head are floating again. How high it will be raised will be determined in the days to come, depending on the PCB's patience with such antics. If things get out of hand (the chances of which seem remote) there might be a slight opening here for Moin. Maybe he will beseech the selectors to offer him an opportunity as a specialist batsman. There is a precedent, for Moin has played international cricket as a batsman alone. But that was in different times.

The question here is: can Moin break into a batting line-up which may not live up to its potential in each and every innings, but where all middle-order spots are occupied by undisputed genuine articles? Can Moin possibly push out Inzamam, Youhana, Younis or Razzaq to carve a slot for himself? It doesn't seem plausible.

Among others, Faisal Iqbal, rated highly by some but run down by others, cannot hope to find a place in the middle order. That is why Faisal's canny uncle Javed Miandad, knowing full well that there are limited opportunities in the middle order, has suggested to the selectors in one of his columns on a web site that the youngster be considered for an opener's slot.

So the dilemma for Moin is two-fold: Rashid is well settled, and the window of opportunity for batsmen is shut too tightly for comfort. It is time for the gritty fighter Moin to test the power of his prayers, and hope that luck would somehow shine on him.