With Allah on their side

I have had 2 previous posts on the same topic. WIth Pakistan cricket team touring England this summer Religon'a role in the Pakistan cricket team is explored at depth in this article:

Faith does seem to have strengthened a traditionally fractious side. Bob Woolmer, the current coach, is of course no Muslim but he is supportive of the religion's adhesive power: he should know, having overseen the rise, in the 1990s, of a South African team with a devoutly Christian core.

Even the maverick Shoaib has spoken openly of the togetherness, the culture of forgiving, that Islam has bred within the dressing-room. Some cynics maintain that Yousuf's conversion was implicitly forced, a roundabout result of his desire to become captain. This ignores the fact that he was vice-captain, and sometimes captain, while still a Christian, and the publicrelations potential for the country in having a Christian captain.

But if Islam is looking for a public-relations coup to offset the constant criticism it receives in the West, it need look no further surely than the joyous, bounding progress of the Pakistan team over the last year, with the genial but earnestly Muslim Inzamam-ul-Haq at its helm. Refreshingly, Islam has united them. The only fear, as Pakistanis know painfully well, is that religion has often also been at the very heart of the country's troubles. Read on