Comedy can be thrilling. But only for a brief moment. The thrill evaporates as soon as the laughter fills the air. Both genres have a lot in common. That being said, a shift between them is not very difficult to transpire as is evident from the way Pakistan Cricket Team’s scripts have started coming in. They were full of thrilling stuff at one point. Plot twists upon plot twists. Teeming with suspense and mystery. But now it’s pure comedy, of the elite kind, though. You can’t help but laugh. Much like the thrillers they used to direct and produce at the PCB headquarters, it has newness in it. It’s original. It’s also very spontaneous. Just as a good thriller has twists intertwined within the story, the Pakistan team trademarked comedy subtly adds humor at the most unexpected places.
You would see a dull predicament and think they definitely can’t make this comical. Let’s, for instance, take a Test match going, with all its pace, towards a potential draw. Everyone knows draws are boring, no one in their right mind can chuckle watching a no-result game. Jokes on you. Pakistan team can definitely make you laugh at that. They will turn the game around, much like they did on the fifth day of the Rawalpindi Test against Bangladesh, and transform this draw into a 10-wicket defeat. At their home turf. Against a team that has never beaten them in Test cricket. Quite exaggerated but still funny.
Humor roots from the unknown. You laugh at the things that don’t make sense to you. Although Pakistan have always never had any regard for rationality, it was just recently they started translating their non-conformism into hilarity.
The first taste of humor for Pakistan came down under a couple of years ago against Zimbabwe in the T20 World Cup 2022. Not like they had never had a liking for farcical situations, but it was not until recently they realized this gift could be cashed with just a little extra effort. The game against Zimbabwe was funny. Losing by a single run to a low-ranked team. Many could not find humor in it, since genres need to be shifted slowly. To reiterate, the team repeated the same script in the recently concluded T20 World Cup against the United States of America. The fans, by that time, had become more tolerant toward satire. The game went to Super Over and Pakistan, to the fan’s amusement, lost the game by five runs. To an even low-ranked team. Had a few guffaws and headed back home to prepare for the next comedy show.
The scriptwriter seems to be enjoying this change in genres. No one knows for how long this may continue. However, if teams can claim to rescue Test cricket by adopting a fast-paced style of play, thereby grabbing the attention of the fans. Pakistan have every right to state the same, however preposterously different way they may choose to achieve the exact objectives. At the end of the day, its all about serving the greater cause.
