Pak cricketer had called Indian players infidels: 1978 Pakistan tour incident; Mohinder Amarnath mentioned in his book
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Amarnath was man of the match in India’s 1983 ODI World Cup final win. This photo of Amarnath is from 6 December 2009, when he received the CK Naidu Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Indian team toured Pakistan for a Test series in 1978. During that time a Pakistani player had called Indian cricketers infidels. Which was quite shocking for the Indian players.
Former cricketer Mohinder Amarnath has mentioned this in his book ‘Fearless’. But, the name of that player is not mentioned in it. In Islam, non-Muslims are called infidels.
We were surprised by this comment from the Cambridge educated cricketer He wrote, Indian cricketers were given a warm welcome upon reaching Pakistan. But the players were shocked when a Pakistani cricketer educated abroad called them infidels. The incident occurred after a match in Rawalpindi. After the match we were boarding the bus. During this, a Pakistani cricketer educated in Cambridge unnecessarily said, seat, seat, seat these infidels quickly.
Mohinder Amarnath further says in his book,
‘What is the use of good education if it cannot change their negative attitudes towards others?’
This book of Amarnath was published on 28 November.
Cricketers got a wonderful welcome at Karachi airport He further wrote, unlike Rawalpindi, the cricketers got a very warm welcome at Karachi airport. Around 40,000 to 50,000 people had come to welcome the visiting team. The crowd size was double that of Rawalpindi. The distance from the airport to the hotel was supposed to be 20 minutes, but it took us four hours. People occupied every inch of space on the footpath and road, refusing to leave unless they caught a glimpse of the Indian cricketers or shook hands with us. They were warm and hospitable.
The hostility on the tour came to light more than expected He has written one more thing about this tour in this book. He wrote, some Pakistani players behaved completely differently. The hostility on the tour came to the fore more than expected. Apparently, some Pakistani players acted on the advice of seniors and maintained distance from us. If we talked to him, his tone and style were aggressive. At least two of them, Javed Miandad and Sarfaraz Nawaz, and to a lesser extent Mudassar Nazar, took the advice a little more seriously. I don’t think Javed or Sarfaraz ever remained silent on the field.
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