Even though he said that ‘pain is just an emotion’, Ben Stokes missed out on the Fifth Test against India, after his tremendous performance in the Fourth Test, when he performed the rare feat of taking five wickets in an innings and scoring a century in the same match. However, the toll he had put on his body was just too much, and he had to hand over to Ollie Pope, who has had to substitute for him before, when Stokes has collapsed, most notably in Pakistan’s debacle at Lahore, when Pakistan made over 500, but still went down by an innings, even though captain Shan Mood has scored a century. I wonder if there would have been much difference if he had bowled. Maybe he too would have taken five wickets. And then lost the match.
By the way, I suspect that what Stokes is promoting is toxicity. Pain is not an emotion. It’s a sensation. I am reminded of the story of Mucius Scaevola, who went into the Etruscan camp to assassinate their King, Lars Porsenna. To cut a long story short, Scaevola, then surnamed Cordus, killed the wrong guy and got caught. He told Lars Porsenna that he was only the first of many assassins and that Romans did not fear pain. To prove this, he thrust his right hand into a nearby fire and showed no pain even as it turned black. (That’s why he was called Scaevola, or Lefthanded.)
Is Stokes promoting a Roman stoicism? Pain exists. People feel it; it can be charted on MRIs and CAT scans. To pretend it doesn’t exist means a breakdown like Ben Stokes. (Or should one call him Beniaminus Andronicus Stokesum?)
Or he is promoting an old-time doctor’s attitude that pain is all in the mind and doesn’t exist. Like the saying that age is just a number. It isn’t. It’s real. You get sick. And ultimately you die.
India, on the other hand, which has set up a great match by giving England a target of 374 and winkling out one opener before close on Day 3, was still celebrating the draw in the Fourth Test, when they batted out the last day to avert an innings defeat. Not being captained by our friend Shan, they did bat it out. Sure, they had made 358 and conceded 669, but by making 425 for 9, they ensured that England would have to bat again. Pakistan made 556 but then conceded 823 before Ollie Pope ended the agony with a declaration with seven wickets down. Pakistan then was bowled out for 220, Masood playing a captain’s knock of 11. When India saved its match, its captain, Shubman Cill, scored a century. I can hear Shan complaining that he couldn’t be expected to score a hundred in both innings. Well, Gill got 269 and 161 in the third test, which India won by over 300 runs.
How can one talk about cricket without mentioning PTI patron-in-chief Iman Khan (and the title makes it seem that the PTI is a cricket club)? I suspect the PTI’s focus is shifting to some other sport. Judging by how the PTI’s Khalid Nisar Dogar behaved in the Punjab Assembly with the Treasury’s Hasan Riaz, the new sport will be mixed martial arts. Instead of a well-judged privilege motion or a carefully drafted resolution, expect kicks to the midriff and chops to the neck.
You’ve got to give the PTI credit for spirit. This happened after 22 members were let back after a multiple-sitting suspension, in which they had demonstrated their MMA skills. The PTI must thus be saddened by the death of WWE star Hulk Hogan. There is a certain precedent: Jesse Ventura was once Governor of Minnesota. And he held office around the time Imran Khan was entering politics.
The PTI is having a hard time these days. Its leaders are being convicted by anti-terrorist courts for the 9 May 2023 attacks. It’s bleeding parliamentarians like anything. One person it’s been able to save is KP CM Ali Amin Gandapur. Some should ask Imran if he thinks KP needs a CM who’s just one jump ahead of the police.
