There is a scene at the beginning of the 2007 epic masterpiece "There will be blood" in which the protagonist Daniel Plainview played by the brilliant Daniel Day Lewis is seen mining a precious ore vein from a pit mine hole. During the process of dynamiting the lode, he falls and breaks his leg. But that is the last thing that would deter him as he manages to save a silver sample, climbs out of the mine and drags himself to an assay office to receive a silver and gold certificate claim. The sublime satisfaction on Daniel's face while lying on floor of the assay office with a broken leg as his sample is being processed could only be described as a man in possession of immortality.
We've seen similar feats of courage and bravery in the game of cricket before. Salim Malik's 3 run (not out) in the 2nd innings of the 1st test against West indies in 1986 at Faisalabad comes to mind. Windies had dominated the cricketing world like no other for decades before. Their pace attack was considered the most lethal to have ever existed during any periods of time in the history of this game. Walsh had broken Malik's arm during the first innings. Behind on runs and badly needing a partnership in the second innings, Malik came out with his left arm in plaster at No. 10 and managed to defend the pace of Windies playing with only his right arm and stuck around while Wasim Akram added 32 more runs. The game was still in the balance but psychologically the Windies were shell shocked. So much so that they skittled out for 53 in their second innings, then their lowest score in Test cricket and handed the victory to Pakistan.
What happed during the final moments of PSL's 10th match of season 3 between Peshawar and Quetta, a routine affair with not much consequence, may not be as historical or epic as what I have described above but it sure went a long way in creating the legend of one Darren Sammy. His one legged 16 runs of 4 balls may very well be chronicled by historians as the most memorable innings by any batsmen in T20 league cricket.
Leave aside his achievements of captaining his national side to victory twice in World T20 championships. This 6 ft 3 in phenom from the island of St.Lucia is only few of the figures left in world cricket that aspire a feeling of old-school. Of cricket being more than just great entertainment and a massively profitable endeavor for cricketing boards. For it being more than just a means to fill TV time and pass out hollow corporate trophies to teams made up of a random rag tag group of mercenaries and has-beens.
If anyone can be described as the face of PSL, it will have to be Darren Sammy. His affable nature and love for the game and his team is unmatched by any, including all of our local players. That generous smile does well to hide the nerves of steel and calm composure. The pent up enthusiasm that often bursts out in spontaneous gyration betray a maddening passion for cricket with a leadership style that evokes a sense of nostalgia for the times of Imran and Sobers
Finally the image of a dancing Sammy wearing a Peshawari pagri used astutely by PakPassion on its web page is perhaps the most enduring images of PSL. It rightly depicts cricketers from all nations coming together to celebrate cricket and in doing so celebrate unity, purpose and ultimately world's most consequential and life affirming reality...Passion.
Thank you Darren Sammy!
