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By:

Waleed Hussain

4 March 2025 at 8:04:30 pm

The Boy Who Turned Edgbaston Into a Funfair 

If you had told the average Pakistan cricket supporter at the start of this series that their side would spend the third evening of the final Test at Edgbaston looking like they were auditioning for a highlight reel rather than limping towards another three-day defeat, they would have checked your temperature and possibly your passport. Yet here we are. A 21-year-old from Mardan with the name Razaullah, barely enough first-class matches to fill a short film, and the sort of carefree swagger...

The Boy Who Turned Edgbaston Into a Funfair 

If you had told the average Pakistan cricket supporter at the start of this series that their side would spend the third evening of the final Test at Edgbaston looking like they were auditioning for a highlight reel rather than limping towards another three-day defeat, they would have checked your temperature and possibly your passport. Yet here we are. A 21-year-old from Mardan with the name Razaullah, barely enough first-class matches to fill a short film, and the sort of carefree swagger usually reserved for street cricket or late-night WhatsApp groups, has just forced England to chase 130 on the fourth day. And he did it while batting at number nine, smashing nine sixes, and looking for all the world as if the concept of pressure was something that happened to other people. Let’s be clear: this was not some carefully nurtured golden boy polished in the National Cricket Academy until he shone. This was a young fast bowler who only made his first-class debut last November, who was still sorting out passport logistics when the call came, and who arrived in England as one of the emergency reinforcements after Pakistan’s latest round of self-inflicted chaos. He took the new ball (well, the first-change ball) against Joe Root on Test debut and dismissed him with his fourth delivery. He then bowled 23 overs for 148 runs – an economy rate that would make most accountants weep – but still finished with four wickets. That alone would have been a solid debut. What followed was pure, unfiltered Pakistan. When Razaullah walked in at 318 for 8, still two runs behind, the sensible money was on England wrapping this up before the tea interval and booking their flights home. Instead, the young man decided the situation called for something closer to carnival cricket. He clubbed a 43-ball fifty, the fastest by a Pakistan debutant, and kept going until he had 81 off 63 balls. Nine sixes. Nine. He equalled Tim Southee’s record for a Test debutant and matched Ben Stokes’ mark for the most maximums in a Test innings in England. He shared a 121-run stand with Mohammad Abbas that felt less like a ninth-wicket partnership and more like two mates who had found the key to the drinks cabinet and refused to hand it back. Cruel Humour The humour in all this is almost cruel. England, the inventors of Bazball, suddenly found themselves on the wrong end of something that looked suspiciously like Razball. Joe Root stood in the middle with the expression of a man who has just discovered his carefully laid plans have been eaten by a particularly enthusiastic goat. Fielders were scattered to the boundary like confetti. Gus Atkinson was asked to bowl bouncers with eight men on the fence. Archer got smoked for successive straight sixes. At one point Root even left the field to consult the brains trust, which is cricket’s equivalent of calling tech support while your laptop is on fire. None of it worked. Razaullah just kept swinging as if the only instruction he had received was “have fun and try not to get stumped too early.” He did get stumped eventually, of course – going for a tenth six off Dan Lawrence on the final ball of the day – but by then the damage was done. Pakistan had posted 449. England needed 130. A match that had looked dead was suddenly alive, and a series that had been an exercise in collective misery suddenly had a hero. New Akram Pakistan cricket has spent years searching for the next Wasim, the next Waqar, the next Shoaib. What it has often got instead is a conveyor belt of almosts and what-might-have-beens, chewed up by the system before they could properly grow. Razaullah arrived with almost no baggage and left Edgbaston with a standing ovation and a nation briefly remembering what pure, reckless talent looks like. That is rare. That is valuable. That is worth protecting. He is still raw. The 148 runs conceded will not be forgotten by the statisticians. The technique will need work. The body will need managing. But for two glorious hours on a September evening in Birmingham, a 21-year-old number nine turned a Test match into a celebration and reminded everyone watching that cricket, at its best, is supposed to be fun. Pakistan should bottle that feeling, keep the boy close, and give him the space to become the champion he already looks capable of being. Because if they don’t, someone else will, and the next time he clears the ropes it might not be wearing green. (The writer is a senior journalist.)

Indian Shipbuilding A Must Win Marathon

Writer: Capt. Naveen S Singhal
Capt. Naveen S Singhal
Dec 5, 2024
4 min read
Shipbuilding

With a coastline of 7500 KM, it is hard to imagine, that for the first 20 years (1947-1967) India had no ‘shipping ministry’. In 1967 a Shipping ministry “coupled” with ROAD transport was established. Since then, this ministry has been on a name changing ride, not once, not twice but six times. In 2009 the “ROAD Transport and Highways” was de-coupled and ‘Shipping’ ministry was formed. Turning point came in 2015 with a clear maritime vision for 2030 and 2047. Ministry was re-christened, aptly to Ministry of “Ports, Shipping and Waterways” in 2020.


Why is Shipbuilding important for a country?

a. A Shipyard becomes an opportunity hub and like a queen bee requires the support of an industrial colony to manufacture machinery and equipment.

b. National Shipyards support fleet renewal needs of the Navy.

c. Contributes to national GDP, increases inflow of FOREX.


Korea shipbuilding is 8% of GDP. Japan’s automobile industry is 2.9% of GDP. India’s shipbuilding a meagre 0.000578% of GDP. In context, India’s pharmaceutical industry, ranked third largest in the world is 1.72% of India’s GDP.


International Shipbuilding Market

The market is estimated to reach around USD 200 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 4.84%. While India is at bottom with 0.07% of world share, behind Philippines 1.5% and Vietnam 1%, however on the positive side, India has done well in taking care of its defence needs, with 37 of 39 Naval ships being built in India yards. Rear Admiral S Shrikhande researching on maritime as a Fellow at Wollongong University, Australia, says “Shipbuilding in India needs both, serious incentivisation and dogged determination and not harping on being a big ship breaking country. That Garden Reach shipyard has a $54 million order for merchant ships from a German owner, is a good sign.”


Were Shipyards of 20th century in Flight mode?

Prominent shipyards in India were built in the colonial period. Mazagon Dock 1774, Garden reach 1884, Hindustan shipyard 1941 to cater to British navy and merchant fleet needs. Cochin shipyard 1972, Adani Katupalli 2013, Reliance Naval and Engineering, Rajula Gujarat 1997 and others have limited capacity, hence a lot more work to do. Capt. Subhangshu Dutt (Singapore) a mariner and now a shipowner, says “GOI should hold hands in any collaboration till the marriage with the foreign entity is reasonably stable. He also suggests that “new shipbuilding sites should be given to existing successful shipyards since they have decades of experience and talent. Consortium of 3 or more parties may also be good idea”.


Shipbuilding GOLD

As per SPLASH report the demand for LCO2 carriers could reach 2,500 ships by 2050. As per other estimates, 40% of global fleet of ships could have wind propulsion by 2050. A surge in such vessels is due to an unparallel waves of decarbonization in the shipping industry. Demand for ships with ‘carbon neutral’ badges, such as Dual fuel, Wind assisted, Nuclear fuel ships, Hydrogen powered ships, Liquified CO2 (LCO2) carrier, is outstripping supply. A must in the ‘bucket list’ of every Shipyard. Pinning down a standard ROI in shipbuilding is not easy, but experts suggest it could range from 4% to 15% for the high demand ‘carbon neutral’ ships. While an LNG new build vessel could cost US$ 250 million upwards.


International collaboration

On China’s shipbuilding success story, Manoj Pandalanghat (Singapore) a mariner and ship owner believes that “China has around 50 active Shipyards. Each have a few large dry docks. In each dock two or more large vessels are built simultaneously. Thus, a single yard is able to roll out 2/3 vessels/month, 36 vessels/year and 50 shipyards roll out 1800 vessels/year”.


China could be a jaldi-5, but India needs a sturdy Mount Fiji. Besides technology, Japanese bring the most important hand baggage of soft-skills and culture, essential for success from keel laying to delivery. Maruti’s is a standing example.


Food for thought for New Delhi

a. Expertise: Hire Naval Architects and shipbuilding experts with current international experience.

b. Government assistance: Land, Financial support, subsidies and timebound clearances.

c. Monitoring: PMO should monitor the first 5 to 10 years till Shipbuilding takes-off on this long-haul flight to destination 2047.


India’s Shipbuilding is expected to grow to $237 billion by year 2047. On a back of the envelope calculations this works out to about 4% of India’s 2047 projected GDP of $ 5 trillion. While cars are driven on roads, however the Ministry of roads and transport has little to do with “Automobile manufacturing”. On a similar note, ‘Shipbuilding’ as an industry has little to do with Ports, Shipping and Waterways, thus it may be worthwhile to consider a separate ‘Ship-building’ wing in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways headed by a dynamic cabinet rank minister. Since 2047 targets are stiff and an uphill task, so in all probabilities, the officials in Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways are likely to push beneath the carpet, delays and failures of Shipbuilding with sweet success stories of “Ports, Shipping and Waterways” and if this does happen then India will not only miss the Shipbuilding bus of 21st century but a lot more from a national security and strategic perspective.


(The author is a Shipping and Marine consultant. Member Singapore Shipping Association and empaneled with IMO as a specialist consultant. Views personal.)

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