The dawn of March 3rd, 2009 actually became the dusk for International Cricket events in Pakistan. Ever since the day, when the touring Sri Lankan team was attacked near Gaddafi stadium in Lahore, the cricket administrators of Pakistan have been moving from pillar to post to convince the cricketing world but so far this labour has not borne fruits.

Like his predecessor – Ijaz Butt – the incumbent Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Zaka Ashraf has also been very keen to fill this void and invite an international outfit to Pakistan. Only recently he was almost certain to have achieved this goal by persuading the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) as earlier in 2012, the BCB not only had given the green-signal but also sent its security delegation to Pakistan. All was seemingly well and Bangladesh was on the verge of embarking on a short trip to Pakistan but a petition in the Dhaka High Court came out of nowhere and hindered the development.

Before the announcement of that trip, the Pakistan Cricket Board assured its Bangladeshi counterparts of their ‘unconditional’ support to Bangladesh for the slot of International Cricket Council (ICC) President. The tour was called off yet Pakistan went on with its commitment for the then BCB chief Mustafa Kamal who later took charge as the ICC President.

At that time, it was an impression that the PCB tried to break a barter deal with Bangladesh; however, despite of the tour cancellation, the appointment of the ICC president from Bangladesh with Pakistan’s negated this impression.

Life went on and yet again Bangladesh raised hopes and eventually backed off once again as expected. This time around the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has played yet another card, which is again a barter deal to send its player to the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) if Bangladesh tours Pakistan.

The much awaited Indo-Pak Series has finally begun with Pakistan bagging the very first T20. Let's take a closer look at what went down in the grounds of M.Chinnaswamy Stadium on the 25th.

Mohammad Hafeez, the Pakistani captain, initiated the nerve-wrecking match by winning the toss and opting field first. Much to Pakistan's advantage, the grounds and conditions in India are quite similar to that of Pakistan's and much of the rest of the subcontinent. However, playing India in India is bound be a pressure-inducing game, and it sure proved to be one.

Without a second opinion, Pakistan has a legacy of producing world class bowlers – both in fast and spin department.  The likes of Fazal Mahmood, Khan Muhammad, Sarfraz Nawaz, Imran Khan, Abdul Qadir, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Aqib Javed, Mushtaq Ahmad, Saqlain Mushtaq,  Shoaib Akhtar, Muhammad Asif, Umar Gul, Muhammad Aamir, Saeed Ajmal and many more, have made a formidable bowling line up over the years. The bowlers burst out at International scene out of nowhere.  To sum it up, there’s no comparison of Pakistan in the world of cricket for producing and evolving bowlers, ironically both in their own playing eleven as well as in the opponent’s team, thanks to their impulsive batsmen.

If I say that the ideal team as a young bowler to make his debut against, or for an out of form bowler to make his comeback again in the team should be against Pakistan, then surely I am not over exaggerating. Transforming a mediocre bowler into an unplayable one is a routine thing for the ‘talented’ bunch of Pakistani batters; to be capable of doing such a thing is a talent for sure.  It would, however, be unfair if I do not mention that they sometimes make some of the most dangerous bowlers look miserable; ‘sometimes’ is the key word here.

The need to go far down the years is not necessary since many examples of gratitude shown by our batsmen to the opponent’s ‘weak links’ can easily be found in recent times. 

By: Tanzil Khawaja

Let me just get something straight from the onset; this piece is not one to that will bombard you with statsor figures, but one that aims to ignite the Phoenix within us; so that we can support our team like neverbefore. Right, now that that’s out of the way, are you sitting comfortably? Good, then I shall begin.

Mohali: March 30th 2011. That brought some shivers down your spine right? In the not too distant past we all had our hearts broken as we witnessed our team go down (albeit fighting hard) to a merciless India. Fair to say we did have them in a good enough position at the halfway stage, yet we just weren’t good enough to finish it off. After that, we all blamed Misbah; and this gave rise to the Twitter Hashtag“#BlameMisbah”, where users put it at the end of everything that was going wrong for them. I can recall some funny tweets such as: “Mum’s made daal again #BlameMisbah”, “The dude on Star Plus cheated on his wife “#BlameMisbah” and (my personal favourite) “Kitne aadmi thay? Sarkar do #BlameMisbah”. As you can see, we blamed Misbah for our loss. We blamed the team for getting so close, yet still failing near the last hurdle. Yet we forgot to tell ourselves that no one expected Pakistan to get that far. No one expected that we would play so well as to reach the Semi-Final, we were so fixated on the fact that we got there and just had to win. No one gave a thought to how well we had played the whole tournament, and that my friends, is what we need to change within ourselves.

Sri Lanka’s teammanager Charith Senanayake has expressed concerns over footage he believes shows paceman Peter Siddle tampering with the ball in the 88th over during the Sri Lanka's first innings. Senanayake said he had spoken with the International Cricket Council officials about the matter. Senanayake told The Australian newspaper,"We recorded the game and it's there for everybody to see. We saw something illegal and have reacted to that. It didn't just happen in the 88th over, it also happened at the beginning of the innings when our first opener got out ... they were picking the seam. We have had informal chats with the match referee Chris Broad about what happened about what we saw on TV, everybody saw it, and we just asked what action are you going to do about it, that’s all. It's up to them (ICC & Match Referee) to act now, but we will have to pursue it further if nothing happens."

Match referee Chris Broad says: "In the opinion of the umpires, there was no evidence to suggest that the condition of the ball was changed, or that the video or photographic evidence would support a charge under the Code of Conduct, so they will not be laying any charges relating to these incidents." 

Pakistan's ODI and T20 skippers Misbah-ul-Haq and Mohammad Hafeez appeared in a joint interview on a private channel. They seem confident that Pakistan team has the ability to beat the arch rivals in the upcoming T20 and ODI series. Though England's spinners have succeeded in India, Pakistan's skippers believe that our fast bowlers will be the key to success in India. Both Captains once again reiterated that a captain doesn't select the team, he may give suggestions to the Selectors but the final decision is taken by the selectors.

Karachi: Pakistan’s suspended leg-spinner, Danish Kaneria - who has been banned for life from playing in England and Wales after being found guilty of corruption – is in London for the hearing of his appeal against the ban. However, sources privy to the development have claimed that Westfield has now formally refused to attend the appeal hearing scheduled for Monday. "Westfield’s lawyers have formally informed the ECB about his non-availability for the appeal hearing”, our source claims.

The 61-test veteran, Kaneria was banned for life from playing in England at a disciplinary hearing of the ECB earlier this year for his alleged role in spot-fixing in county matches. Consequently, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) also suspended the leg-spinner from taking part at any level until his appeal is heard by an independent ECB panel.

Pakistan should play with two specialist spinners vs India in India during the upcoming tour.

By Muhammad Asif Khan

KARACHI: Reacting sharply to the petition filed by former captain, Rashid Latif, the legal adviser of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Taffazzul Rizvi, termed it a bid to distort the relevant facts attached to the PCB affairs. Talking to this correspondent from Lahore the legal adviser vowed to comply with the directives of the honourable court.

“The petition by Rashid Latif is actually based on half truth as the honourable court was not completely appraised of the relevant facts.” said Taffazzul Rizvi

“Complying with the court’s order, all the legal reservations will be raised before the honourable judges”, added PCB’s legal adviser.

Earlier, The Sindh High Court bench consisting of Justice Maqbool Baqar and Justice Sarwar Korai issued a notice to the Pakistan Cricket Board, after accepting Rashid Latif's petition that challenged PCB's constitution and sought a 'fair and transparent' functioning of the board.

By: Muhammad Asif Khan

Whenever a decision is made, its impact in the coming days is, or should be, the foremost concern of the decision maker. The more sensitive one’s position is, the greater amount of responsibility gets attached to a decision. In Pakistan, after President and the Prime Minster, the post of the Cricket Board chairman is seen as the most watched slot, hence, a single wrong step attracts a great deal of criticism.

The past era of Ijaz Butt was by far the most talked about tenure, but has the situation changed since the new Chairman – Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf – took the reigns of the Pakistan Cricket Pakistan (PCB)? Quite honestly, it has been a mixed bag in terms of making various decisions made by the incumbent chairman. An overview of the last one year – since Zaka Ashraf assumed the office – gives an impression of him being a man desperate to make his mark, however, he has also pressed a few wrong buttons in the process.

Zaka Ashraf started off really well by taking everyone on board. He met with former PCB heads as well as a fair amount of ex-cricketers. He also wrote letters to the cricket fraternity to seek support. During other relevant meetings as well, he tried to put his point across pretty efficiently, but a few wrong calls on important issues have somewhat spoiled the party for him.