SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities Threats)analysis, a strategy often used by companies to identify the Potentials, Prospects, Weak links, Chances to Succeed and Competition likely to be faced by their Products or Services and they are able to forecast the future for their Product or Service.

The same strategy SWOT can also be applied to the Pakistani Cricket team, a team that has already seen the Highs and Lows of International Cricket in just the two months of the year 2012.

Clean Sweep Test Series win against England was a historic achievement, but getting clean swept by the same English team in the ODIs and losing the 3 match T20 series to England 2-1 just brought team Pakistan back to the World.

Anyways team Pakistan had its moments against England in the U.A.E and now the team is about to leave for Bangladesh to participate in the Asia Cup. Asia Cup has not brought pleasant memories for the Green Shirts, out of the previously played 10 editions we have won just once in 2000 in the Captaincy of Moin Khan and the place was Bangladesh. Since that win Team Pakistan has failed to qualify even for the Finals of the tournament. 2004, 2008 and 2010 have seen Team Pakistan knocked out of the tournament before the Final game.

Let’s see what SWOT Analysis conclude about team Pakistan’s chances in the Asia Cup 2012

Dav Whatmore, Pakistan’s new head coach, arrived in Lahore on Friday. Accompanying him was Julien Fountain,who will be in charge of Pakistan’s fielding, an area of immense concern for them lately.

Pakistan’s young fast bowler Junaid Khan has been ruled out of the Asia Cup due to a knee injury he sustained during the recently concluded series against England in the UAE.

This is not the first time Junaid has had to struggle with an injury. He joined the squad for the England series right after recovering from an abdominal tear he picked up during Pakistan’s series against Sri Lanka last year.

Junaid’s MRI scans have revealed a fractured patella while he is expected to be out of action for 3 weeks. On his last tour against England, he managed to pick only one wicket in three games across all formats.

The inaugural session of Bangladesh Premier League concluded on 29th February with the crowning of star-studded ‘Dhaka Gladiators’ as the champions. Earlier, the league commenced on 9th February with a glamorous opening ceremony and consisted of different franchises based on different regions of the country with representation from important players of cricket fraternity.

Dhaka Gladiators and Barisal Burners made it to the final of the Bangladesh Premier League which was played in front of a packed crowd in Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur. Gladiators took 15.4 overs to overhaul the Barisal Burners total and completed an eight-wicket victory.

Great scenes were captured soon as the winning run was hit. The Dhaka Gladiators side rushed to the ground and celebrated in style. Imran Nazir picked up a stump as a souvenir and roars to the crowd who edged him on. Just the presence of Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal in Gladiators line-up helped them enjoy the cakewalk over Burners.

Pakistan Cricket supremo, Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf has indicated that there are no immediate plans of removing Misbah ul Haq from captaincy in any format.

‘Whatever decisions we take, will be in the best interest of Pakistan Cricket’, he added.

He further said that Misbah has done a fabulous job as Captain and the fans should continue to back him up. He was asked whether any decision has been taken to appoint 3 different captains for all formats, and his reply was that the PCB will consider this suggestion in due time, after getting feedback from ex-cricketers and then reach a consensus.

‘Important decisions such as these should not be made in haste,’ he concluded.

The security team nominated by the Bangladesh Cricket Board to review the on ground situation in Pakistan will land in Islamabad on Friday. The team will meet Minister of Interior Rehman Malik and will then be taken to the PCB HQ in Lahore.

The Bangladeshi security team will be briefed on the security arrangements by Pakistan Cricket Board officials in Lahore. After which, they will travel back to Bangladesh to report to their higher ups. The final decision to go ahead with the tour rests with the Bangladesh Cricket Board.

The Bengal Tigers will become the first cricket team to travel to Pakistan, after the Srilankan Cricket team was attacked by gunmen in Lahore during their tour of Pakistan in 2009.

The GoP and PCB have promised Presidential level security to visiting teams in the future.

India named their squad for the Asia Cup this afternoon with a few surprises; the axing of opening batsman Virender Sehwag being the major news. Along with Sehwag, Fast bowlers Zaheer Khan and Umesh Yadav have been rested. Their are re-calls for allrounder Yusuf Pathan and Ashok Dinda, who conmes back after two years out.

There was major speculation that the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and captain Mahendra Dhoni will also sit out, but those rumours proved to be unfruitful. Sehwag's apparant 'rest' comes after he managed to score 143 runs in 7 innings in the current CB series in Australia. 

What unraveled at Abu Dhabi is indeed perplexing.A chase that should’ve never gone that far did. As an avid Pakistani cricket follower, it was a genuine disappointment.

It was imperative that the Greenshirts will be lamented for a poor approach to a below par total. Any team that flounder such a chase should be. Though,irony of the situation was that it wasn’t the team that got lamented but the captain.

Dear Misbah,

Firstly I'd like to start by saying your a Test legend. A man that came to our rescue when three cheats had turmoiled the name of Pakistan, let alone the cricket team. People were calling for Pakistan to be expelled from International cricket. From the draw against South Africa till the white-washing of the number one Test side in the World; you have restored the pride into Pakistan cricket.

Moving onto the limited overs and where do I start? The 2007 cricket World T20 Cup, saw your return to the International fold. You was installed on the request of, then captain, Shoaib Malik. People seem to have forgot that the trust paid into you by Malik was repaid by you. You ended the tournament as Pakistan's top run-getter. Whilst the rest of the batting folded like a pack of cards, you stood tall in the final and took Pakisan perilously close against the arch-rivals. All that was ever remembered was THAT shot.