From one Champions Trophy to another, little has changed in the world of Pakistan Cricket.
To begin with, we are once again without the services of once-premier strike bowlers, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Asif.
In 2006, they heaped shame on Pakistan, never mind themselves (they having given ample evidence to suggest if it matters a great deal to them), with their withdrawal without a ball being bowled in the game’s second most important One Day tournament.
Imagine the plight of a captain, who discovers on the eve of his campaign that he won’t have the wherewithal to launch one — a bit like trying to row a boat without an oar or two. Poor Inzamamul Haq couldn’t have felt otherwise!
Almost two years down the road, the rewind button is our idea of cruise control. The two bowlers, who interestingly have no love lost for each other have behaved little better than a serial offender.
It is doubtful if they can be entrusted to carry their wares as international cricketers with any degree of responsibility.
In the case of Asif, it is flabbergasting that a sportsman can be so irresponsible as to carry a certain amount of banned drug in his wallet and then turn around and have the cheek to suggest he had no idea about it.
The sheer suggestion was like a banana inswinger that Asif is well nigh capable of — but in Heaven’s name whoever said it had to be off-the-field!
And then, the loose talk about quantity. Word is out that the quantity was trifling so the UAE authorities let him go.
Of course, it is not as easy as that. For sure, some ‘good Samaritans’ were always at work to unburden Pakistan from palpable embarrassment on a global scale.
But even before his loved ones, fellow Pakistanis and Pakistan Cricket Board could breathe a little easier came the bombshell that Asif tested positive for nondrolone during a random test at the recently concluded cash-rich Twenty20 Indian Premier League.
And guess what? Asif turns around and tries to pull more wool around our eyes, suggesting that he did not use any banned substance and therefore, the finding was shocking.
For his and world cricket’s sake, let’s hope the sample B that he has demanded and which will be taken later this month has a magic potion and miraculously delivers a negative report.
But for now, Asif’s claims sound as hollow as Bill Clinton asserting “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Monica Lewinsky”. We all know what happened afterwards.
Greater embarrassment is also due shortly when an IPL panel sits on judgment about Asif’s fate as a Delhi Daredevils player. On evidence, fat chance he will have an opportunity for daredevilry on a cricket pitch in the future.
What a coup de grace this all has been: few, if any, could deny that he remained potentially, the best pacer in the world.
As for Shoaib Akhtar, his is a never-ending saga. Sadly, his career so far has more ingredients of a filmy villain than a cricket hero. The list of misdemeanours is long and this space will simply not suffice but at the end of the day, his is yet another story of unfulfilled potential thanks to a combination of poor temperament, judgment and management.
But for this once, one felt he was hard done by when PCB chief Dr Nasim Ashraf tried to pull a fast one and had the Rawalpindi Express derailed in a jiffy and that, too, for half a decade.
And pray for what?
For simply criticising the board for organizing inconsequential tournaments out-of-season on featherbeds!
There is no doubt that Akhtar has a history of bad behaviour, the worst manifestation of which was belting Asif with a bat (was it his idea of Twenty20?) in South Africa.
It was appropriate therefore, that the PCB banned him for 13 matches as well as imposing an unprecedented Rs34 lakh penalty.
One dares say, even a life ban then, though harsh could have made sense in a way.
But in response to Akhtar’s criticism early this year, the PCB behaved more like the author of the military operation in Lal Masjid last year: heavy-handed to the extent where a fly is killed by an axe.
The soap opera that followed the Ashraf-formed PCB committee’s verdict sounded very much like a death sentence. But having wizened up to the unpredictable nature of Pakistan Cricket, one was skeptical if any such verdict or even the truncated sentence later would hold up for long.
And so, the Lahore High Court provided the stunning turnaround that we all have grown accustomed to — in the Land of The Possible. It suspended Akhtar’s reduced ban of one-and-a-half year pending a final decision on the Rs7 million fine imposed by a tribunal set up by the PCB chief.
Now that we have Akhtar available for selection again, the Ashraf-led PCB is finding innovative ways to keep him out of reckoning. The latest shenanigan is that he should cough up the fine or else his status would be “no-show”. They even set a July 14 deadline for the speedster to deposit the penalty, which Akhtar’s lawyer refused on the ground that the LHC was still to hand its final verdict.
Consequently, Akhtar has not been called for a training stint in Kakul. But his selection amongst the probables for the Champions Trophy shows it is all a battle of attrition, which Ashraf would apparently, like to end for now by forcing Akhtar to pay up.
With Asif out of reckoning and Pakistani pace attack looking pretty forlorn, the PCB would be able to kill two birds with one stone if Akhtar throws in the towel.
One, PCB would have presumably saved face after the LHC verdict against it and; two, have a genuine bowler to boost its depleted resources.
However, given the proclivity for deals in this country — remember how Akhtar successfully sought the services of PM’s Advisor on Interior Rehman Malik to force Ashraf to scupper a damaging suit against the pacer in court — the force is with the Rawalpindi Express.
But still, keep an eye on the breaking news ticker.