India versus Pakistan and the power of a six: an analysis of cricket results
BMJ 2004; 328 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.328.7443.800 (Published 01 April 2004) Cite this as: BMJ 2004;328:800
All rapid responses
Rapid responses are electronic comments to the editor. They enable our users to debate issues raised in articles published on bmj.com. A rapid response is first posted online. If you need the URL (web address) of an individual response, simply click on the response headline and copy the URL from the browser window. A proportion of responses will, after editing, be published online and in the print journal as letters, which are indexed in PubMed. Rapid responses are not indexed in PubMed and they are not journal articles. The BMJ reserves the right to remove responses which are being wilfully misrepresented as published articles or when it is brought to our attention that a response spreads misinformation.
From March 2022, the word limit for rapid responses will be 600 words not including references and author details. We will no longer post responses that exceed this limit.
The word limit for letters selected from posted responses remains 300 words.
The article, while technically accurate, was obviously an April Fools
Day joke.
Take a deep breath folks and learn to laugh a bit.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Drs. Abbasi and Khan have started a brilliant trend.
We can study the phenomenal rise of Indian cricket under Sourav Ganguly
and how this has been acheived.We could also try to assess the effects of
this on the mental and physical well being and pride of the Indian nation.
Now we have the confidence that an internationally famous journal like the
BMJ could publish it.
Thank you BMJ and Drs. Abbasi and Khan.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
This is, quite simply, the best paper that has ever been published in
the BMJ!
Anyone who sees fit to criticise it has a really worrying deficiency,
namely, not having the remotest hint of a sense of humour.
I am completely ashamed that the vast majority of critical
respondents are fellow Indians. Evidently, the dark age of BJP-type Hindu
extremist government in India has left its hate-fuelling scars on, even,
Indians living abroad! Thankfully, that regime has now been ejected by the
processes of democracy in India (will the USA and UK please follow suit
with Bush and Blair?.
The true winners of the recent test series was not the Indian team
but the people of Pakistan for the wonderful hospitality, warmth and love
extended to the Indian team and their fans. So, lets start talking about
the two countries trading with each other, having joint leagues for
cricket and hockey at club level and closer ties in the field of medical
science (to name but a few).
My final broadside is aimed at those 'doctors'(thankfully, for me,
not all Indians) who have attempted to criticise the science in this
article - please get a life! How more ridiculously pompous and inanely
self-important can we get - no wonder so many patients despise us.
Viva Dravid, Inzamam, Sehwag et al.
Well done the BMJ!
Competing interests:
1) I am a lifelong fan of Indian cricket
2) By religion, I am a Arya Samaj Hindu (our movement's key belief is monotheism (that there is only one god) who is formless (cannot be represented by idols) and unchangeable (cannot take human or animal form).
Competing interests: No competing interests
Miandad’s six (1) is a metaphor that takes us beyond a boundary to a
new thinking. It is similar to the Butterfly metaphor of chaos and
complexity science, “A butterfly flapping its wings in Texas causes a
tornado in Texas.” This six caused ripples across time and space.
CLR James, whose words “What do they know of cricket who only
cricket know?” were paraphrased in the opening sentence of the article,
argued in his book “Beyond a Boundary” that cricket is an art whose
structure allows variety, and it relates to history and society.
Cricket is a game of complexity with nonlinear and dynamic
interactions of the weather, ground conditions, selection policies, etc,
(which were mentioned by the authors), and many other factors determining
outcomes. In such systems, chaos rears its head, making plausible the
hypothesis mentioned by the authors that a single shot had an enduring
influence.
Publication of this article has been dismissed by some as “not
cricket,” yet it may have the same effect as Miandad’s six in creating
change, bringing to the attention of readers concepts of simplicity and
complexity which underlie all of medicine and health, and all of life
itself. It may thus still become a landmark article, which may bowl us
over, going beyond a boundary to new concepts.
Such concepts have been previously described with relation to the
South Asian community, with chaos and complexity used as a tool for change
in health promotion (2,3) and cricket used as a tool for change in health,
with cricket scores and history used to stimulate interest at a South
Asian Heart Health Fair in Toronto in 1995 (3). Thus the idea of Miandad’s
six leading to change is not as far fetched as it may sound.
We should not let this opportunity slip to explore such ideas
further.
References:
1. Abbasi K, Khan KS. India versus Pakistan and the power of a six:
an analysis of cricket results. BMJ 2004;328:800.
2. Rambihar VS. Using complexity science in community health promotion:
novel perspectives and a tool for change in Complexity and Healthcare
Organization, (Ed. Kernick D). Oxford: Radcliffe Medical Press, 2004.
3. Rambihar VS. South Asian Heart: Preventing heart disease: from the
heart to the edge of the diaspora: from the heart to the edge of chaos.
Toronto: Vashna Publications, 1996 and 2002.
Competing interests:
Nil
Competing interests: No competing interests
A few thoughts, even if late.
I expect the BMJ to publish my article on the effect of the Ashes on Anglo
-Saxon Health. If not, why not? Just because Australia wins? It really is
a sick joke to talk about cricket in the context of South Asian health,
considering how ill South Asians are.
The topic of the article might have a place in a sports psychology
journal. However, the methodology is so obviously flawed-what about all
the confounding factors? What about the "sponsors"-all the fixers of the
matches;how many of the matches were played in good faith, do we even
know?
I like watching cricket as much as the next person maybe more, but I
really have to question the purpose of this article being in the BMJ.
I also never want to hear another word about work practices in the
Antipodes, given that my colleagues in the UK seem to have plenty of time
on their hands.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
I knew it, I knew it, I knew it from the outset that this debate is
going to end up in this 'disgustipatingly' pathetic fashion. I hope this
is the end of it. IF not, I suggest the editors to put a lid on this topic
to stop this flooding of hate and repugnance against Hindus and Muslims.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
As a BMJ reeder for over 30 years, I was appalled to see this paper
which, as others have pointed out, is both irrelevant to the BMJ and also
appears at the expense of real, valid medical research which the BMJ is
forced to reject because of pressure on space.
What the publication of this paper represents to me is that
'laddishness' – the assertive display of childish forms of patriarchal
behaviour, found equally in the pub and the Cabinet room – has now
infected the editorial offices of the BMJ. I believe it is essential that
the editor of the BMJ responds personally to this deplorable lapse in
editorial standards.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Let me get one thing straight. Passive aggression is what the article
is all about. If somebody thinks that such acts will be tolerated by
passive submission, they are in for a rude surprise. I donot think that
you know the first thing about Hinduism or Hindutva. We do NOT follow
manusmriti. Manusmriti which was written by manu, has always been totally
and completely rejected by the Hindus ages ago. The manuscript was
literally burned and its concepts were ejected from all aspects of
Hinduism. Bhagwad Gita is what all Hindus follow with the teachings from
the epics like ramayana and mahabharata. And I dont think any Muslim has
the right to talk about Womens right. You being an Indian muslim might
think that there exists such a thing as womens rights, but thats only
because the Hindus give it to you in a platter in India. Go to saudi
arabia, and afghansitan where women (even non muslims) have to cover up
from head to heels in black. Even in pakistan, where muslim women are
forced to marry the Quran, is no exception to blatant violations of Human
rights. Why dont you talk about the Honour Killings that happen in the
Muslim families in U.K. Educated fundamentalism is what Islam has turned
into. You might say that Islam is hijacked by a minoriity, but the very
fact that the majority muslims let them do it, makes them equally guilty.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
"I am just an average Indian male and am very proud of it. I believe
in Cohabitance of all races and religions. I dont want to convert anybody
into Hinduism. I dont want Hindus to rule the world. I dont think anybody
who does not believe in Lord Vishnu is an infidel. and i am certainly not
going to blow myself up becos it says so in the Gita, (it doesnt, by the
way). I am happy to have a good Muslim neighbour or friend. "
The above displays such passive-aggressive behaviour, I could not
help but respond. If this response typifies the reaction of an allegedly
educated person, who happens to be a Hindu, I fear for the relations
between us lesser mortals who find ourselves on the so-called hindu-muslim
divide.
To allay fears, and hopefully broaden some horizons (I know its a
defeatist task) none of the above holds true about the islamic faith. If
the faith has been hijacked by a frothing rabid minority, does not
represent a structural shift in Islamic tenets. No true muslim has the
right to take lives, call another person an infidel, or have expansionary
views, with the caveat that it is within his duites to propogate Islam
using persuasive dialogue.
It would be easy for me to turn this into a slanging match and
suggest that the RSS represent true Hindu idealogy, and that the Manu
Smriti (which lies highest in the hierachy of prescriptive Hinduism today
unfortunately, and NOT the Bhagvad Gita)which demeans the status of women
to levels unmentionable, is what true Hinduism is.
However, I refrain, and choose to let people make informed decisions,
if they wish.
Insinuating a hierachy of religions, and claiming to be at the top of
that hierarchy has a hollow ring, whereever that may emanate from.
Finally, being an Indian Muslim, I pray that the Indian team wraps up
the series and claims a historic win in the next two days.
I would like to applaud Saurav Ganguly's dignified acceptance of the
one day trophy at the presentation ceremony and hope that we can all take
something away from it.
As for Miandad's six, and all the palaver sparked by the article in
the BMJ (I remember sinking to the ground and feeling completely deflated
at that time),it was so long ago....doesn't have a bearing on today's
cricket matches between India and Pakistan.
All it does is raise poignant memories, whilst watching Miandad eat
some humble pie, which redresses the balance and is belated payback for
his arrogant posturing following THAT match in Sharjah.
Competing interests:
Not suffering flag waving, chest beating jingoistic drivel.....
Competing interests: No competing interests
Re: India versus Pakistan and the power of a six: an analysis of cricket results
I know this article when it was published in 2004 and enjoyed reading it, a very different kind of article for a journal like BMJ. 10 years have been passed since its publication and a lots have happened during this time with both the teams; Pak and India. Miandad's six was a turning point, the way Pak has won against India in coming years after that historical six. However, then there was a dip in Pakistan's performance and Pak has lost to India in almost all the matches at any big event. But, recently, the win against India in Asia Cup might be another turning point in Pakistan's perpormance against India. This time, it is Shahid Afridi's six which has turned the match. So whether his six can be turning point for Pak? I like to see the authors to investigate this point and consider of conducting a follow-up of this study during last 10 years.
Competing interests: No competing interests