Afridi's impact
It is important to realise that his is not the strength of a patient accumulator; but the ability to bring the opponent on his knees with the fierceness of his game
Value him for what he is and not for what he could have been; remember his successes and not his failings -- and only then will you be able to do justice to Shahid Khan Afridi.

Max-imum input
By Waqar Gillani
The News on Sunday: Tell us about your much-talked-about interaction with the national cricket team?
Max Babri: Actually, I am a great fan of cricket. I've been fond of the game from my college days. I always wanted to be a part of the Pakistan cricket team. It's only now, when I am approaching 60 that I've been able to fulfill my long-cherished dream. I have clients in the corporate sector who arranged my meeting with the Pakistan Cricket Board. I threw a challenge: I'd not take a single penny if we lose the tournament, but I'd charge double the agreed amount if we win. I conducted only a six-day training course.

Short is exciting
Twenty20 does not require plans -- it calls for bravery; it does not reward those who are circumspect, it values those with little to fear. And that's exactly why Pakistan team fits this format so well
By Adnan Mahmood
Part of it was for the cup and may be some of it was also for the money, but more than anything else, it was for the pride. Pakistan's cricket team has in recent times been battered, ridiculed and even laughed at by the world and winning the Twenty20 World Cup was the best manner of restoring the lost dignity.

Gosh, this cricket!
The name has to change because it's a new game
By Sarwat Ali
Twenty20 cricket. It should be renamed because it is not cricket. It can be cricball or basecket -- an unhappy marriage like all marriages of baseball and cricket.

We've always played this
At its very basic level, T20 is an extension of the sport which is played in the streets and parks and clubs of Pakistan
By Aoun Sahi
Experts are not surprised with the performance of the Pakistan cricket team in ICC World Twenty20 Championship 2009. They believe T20 is a form of cricket which is closer to the kind of game that is played in Pakistan.

Savour the moment
There is no reason why international cricket should not return to the land
By Nabeel Naqvi
Pakistan, a cricketing powerhouse, has been hit hard by the US-led war on terror. The repercussions of this carnage have had a massive impact on almost every aspect of life in this land of the pure.

The recently concluded ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2009 is going to go down in the annals of our cricketing history as a milestone tournament for more than one reason. Sure it has given the much needed boost to Pakistan's status in world cricket. We beat best bets South Africa and Sri Lanka and brought back the glorious memories of the World Cup 1992 -- our only win in the last decade and half.

The T20 championship win has an even more special significance for us, since it happened at a time when Pakistan was battling internal security issues. Especially, in the wake of the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan players in Lahore early this year, Pakistan lost its rights to host the World Cup 2011 and was pushed into isolation. The T20 World Cup victory has helped redeem Pakistan on the international front as much as it has given the nation something big to cheer about in a general atmosphere of depression.

As a British commentator puts it, "Pakistan have peaked at the right time and couldn't have produced a more complete performance for a final... The country faces a difficult few years of rebuilding, but this victory will have brought great joy and, hopefully, belief of a brighter future."

It is interesting to note that Twenty20 itself has risen in 'ranks' with this tournament. From being dubbed as a game of pure chance that places little premium on technique or even high scores -- teams have won matches despite hitting fewer boundaries and scoring slower -- T20 has had its share of criticism ever since it was introduced over four years ago. Some of its detractors, like Sarwat Ali whose views make part of this Special Report, still regard this shortened form of cricket as flaky. For them, Test matches are the real sport, followed by the one-days.

As much as this criticism of T20 may be fair, there is no denying the fact that this new version of cricket is today the most popular game to watch as well as to play. After all, in our fast-paced lives where we have time only for instant tea and coffee, we can't be accused of taking fancy to this snappier and, certainly more exciting, version.

ICC World Cup has earned the game some more respectability -- not to mention, popularity. Come to think of it, they now also have the women's T20 world championships. This week's Special Report is a re-evaluation of the phenomenon that T20 has become, with special reference to our national team's glorious win.

The cup full of joy

It was difficult not to get carried away. Trying to hold back my tears, I looked around and absorbed the moment. It was a sea of green erupting with pure joy.

Lord's -- the home of cricket -- couldn't have witnessed such a scene in its long, illustrious history. It was just too emotional.

Thousands of fans, mostly clad in green -- easily the colour of the day -- chanted slogans of 'Pakistan zindabad'. They danced, sang and swayed to the tune of Junaid Jamshed's immortal 'Dil Dil Pakistan' as Younis Khan and his men lifted the Twenty20 World Cup after a well-deserved eight-wicket triumph over Sri Lanka in the final.

After a long, frustrating wait of 17 years, Pakistan are world champions again.

And the victory couldn't have come at a better time. Pakistan cricket had been suffering with the security situation in the country together with the unsympathetic world cricket community threatening to bury the sport here.

Pakistan had already become the pariahs of international cricket and there were these clear indications that the country, which has over the years produced some of the world's most exciting cricketers, was being reduced to the role of cricketing minnows.

But the Greenshirts aptly demonstrated why they are so important to world cricket. A World Cup would always be poorer without them. The 2007 spectacle in the Caribbean where Pakistan crashed out of the first round was a clear proof that you can't have all the ingredients of a memorable cricketing feast without the unpredictability, the exuberance and the raw talent that is a hallmark of Pakistani cricketers.

No other team possesses the sheer aggression of Shahid Afridi -- the hero of Pakistan's successful campaign in England. No other captain would hand in the cricket ball to his 17-year-old bowler to deliver the final over in a crunch game. No other team would come back from the jaws of elimination to win the world title with such an ease that it seemed it was a routine job. No other team can fill in for Pakistan.

And the fans knew it.

Only a cricketing achievement like this could have resulted in the outpouring of joy around the globe as millions of Pakistanis celebrated one of their greatest cricketing moments.

At Lord's, it was just pure joy.

As if their sixth sense was working overtime, the fans were already celebrating even before the start of the final.

It was a rare, sunny day in London and even the fact that Younis Khan lost a critical toss didn't dampen the mood of the Pakistani fans that easily outnumbered their Sri Lankan rivals or the English fans, who had bought the tickets in advance in the hope to see their players in action in the grand finale.

And when the 17-year-old Mohammad Aamer scalped dangerman Dilshan Tillakaratne in the first over for a duck, a deafening roar greeted that dismissal.

Abdul Razzaq's three wickets in quick succession ignited similar applause as Pakistan took such a strong grip on the final that a superb, unbeaten fifty by Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara seemed harmless.

And when Pakistan started their run-chase, it was party-time all over the ground. Kamran Akmal's lusty hitting adding fuel to the celebrations but the crowd saved the best for their darling -- Shahid Afridi. In the form of his life, the seasoned all-rounder didn't disappoint them.

Though initially he dealt with singles and doubles instead of the fours and sixers he is famous for, Afridi brought the crowd on its feet with every single shot he played. It was easily the best day of his cricketing career, even better than the game that made him a celebrity literally overnight when he hit the fastest ton in One-day Internationals at Nairobi Gymkhana almost 13 years back.

It was a fitting end to the 12-nation spectacle, when Afridi took the winning run. After all, he was the one who had the biggest impact on the tournament, inspiring Pakistan with his all-round performance.

It was like a dream come true. Younis Khan lifted the glittering trophy as his team-mates basked in glory.

Huge celebrations broke out in London as teenagers took to the streets in their cars and on foot to join the party. They told me, "Tonight, you'll witness scenes like this anywhere in Britain where there is even a small community of Pakistani-origin."

Back home in Pakistan, it was the happiest night in a long, long time. For an embattled people, it was a divine gift. Fully aware of the importance of his team's triumph, Younis told a crowded press conference at the Middlesex Room that his players did it for their countrymen back home. "It's our gift to the nation," he said.

Outside in the field, his players were still sharing the memorable moment with their fans. Even their bodyguards could not keep the likes of Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Fawad Alam, Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Aamer away from their fans. The players jumped inside the stands to hug their fans, gave them autographs and borrowed Pakistan flags from them. The cup of joy being raised in the air every now and then. Our Cup of Joy!

It is important to realise that his is not the strength of a patient accumulator; but the ability to bring the opponent on his knees with the fierceness of his game

Value him for what he is and not for what he could have been; remember his successes and not his failings -- and only then will you be able to do justice to Shahid Khan Afridi.

Like many before him, he is a genius both flawed and erratic but he carries the label with unprecedented aplomb -- adding to his sheen rather than dulling it. Born in 1980 in the troubled Khyber Agency, Afridi has remained true to his ancestry -- difficult to harness and impossible to control. A conformist he is not; a loyalist he definitely is. Defiant, belligerent and proud are all rhetorical yet accurate descriptions for Afridi.

Always a dangerous prospect for his opponents, Afridi is at his violent best when he is packed with confidence. Achievement in bowling gives him this confidence and success in his batting gives him his reputation.

Over the past year or so, for whatever little cricket Pakistan has played, Afridi's bowling has been a revelation. The beauty of the drift, the flight to match and the vigorous rip at the end -- no one could have predicted the use of such words to describe Afridi's leg spinner a couple of years ago; but today this is the most apt description for his stock delivery. With one of the most ferocious faster balls for a spinner, actually even for most medium pacers as well, Afridi has all the weaponry to be Pakistan's most feared bowling asset.

Riding high on this confidence, and with the support of his captain, Afridi has also turned on his batting game to now produce a package that is perhaps the most potent force in the short format of the game.

Acknowledging the impact of the Twenty20 game on his career, Afridi has always credited the format for giving him a new lease of cricketing life. With his leg spinners becoming increasingly effective and a new-found confidence in his batting, it appears only a matter of time before his impact transcends into tests and ODI's.

But while measuring his contribution, it is important to realise that his is not the strength of a patient accumulator; but the ability to bring the opponent on his knees with the fierceness of his game. Many would probably always be more effective than him, but none would be able to match his intimidation of the adversary -- whether with the ball, the bat or in the field.

Standing tall with his chest out and arms raised just after taking a wicket is one of the most inspiring sights in cricket -- one that instills confidence and pride in every Pakistani and the fear of God in the hearts of all his rivals.

-- Adnan Mahmood

Short is exciting

Part of it was for the cup and may be some of it was also for the money, but more than anything else, it was for the pride. Pakistan's cricket team has in recent times been battered, ridiculed and even laughed at by the world and winning the Twenty20 World Cup was the best manner of restoring the lost dignity.

"You could write a sitcom on Pakistan cricket," said one of the commentators. "They present little threat," screamed another. Given the recent history of Pakistan cricket, one could hardly blame them, but a look at our team's performance in the 20-20 format shows that the team's performance could have been considered anything but a surprise. A team that has a 100 percent success result against the Australians could hardly be considered a minnow.

The numbers tell an undeniable story -- Pakistan has played a total of 24 T20 games to win 18, lose only 5 and tie a solitary game against India. These are seriously impressive statistics with a success percentage of 75 percent.

In comparison, Pakistan's record in the ODI's is notably inferior. Of the 698 ODI's it has played, Pakistan has won 377 matches and lost another 300, making a success percentage of 54 percent. Similarly, out of a total of 337 test matches that Pakistan has played, it has won 103, lost 89 and drawn 145, with a victory percentage of 30 percent.

The trend is obvious: the smaller the game the better Pakistan's chances of winning, making the number of overs in a game inversely proportional to Pakistan's success rate.

So, what makes Pakistan do better in the shortest version of the game? Some believe it is because of a more organised domestic 20-20 format.

Former cricketers, Imran Khan being the most vocal among them, believes Pakistan's traditional domestic cricketing structure is not competitive enough to produce players ready to compete at the international level, simply because they play in matches no one is interested in following. This makes winning and losing hugely academic and the game loses its competitiveness which reflects on the players' ability to play under pressure.

The present domestic 20-20 format is more competitive than the conventional first class set up, as it is organised on a regional basis. The games are given live coverage with fan followings centered around regional sympathies, giving the players an opportunity to learn to play in a competitive format which some believe allowed Pakistan to perform well in the T20 World Cup.

Others think the reasons for our success lie not in our ability to make sense of the 20-20 format, but actually in our ingrained capacity for short-term measures. There are theories that we as a nation lack the temperament for doing well in the long term -- whether in sport or in other aspects of our lives. The claim is that we succeed with erratic intensity rather than planning and execution.

It appears true that making successful strategies has seldom been the strength of Pakistan cricket. Very few captains have been known to be tactically superior than their competitors. While, Miandad was one captain regarded highly as a tactician, the rest focused on pampering their star players to induce match-winning performances from them. Imran was also a captain who brought out the best from his players by leading from the front, motivating his team and inculcating pride and self belief, rather than relying on tactical superiority or a consistent professional output.

Pakistan's planning in cricket has traditionally been restricted to preparing turning tracks for home series and packing their teams with spinners and batsmen with limited success. Over the years we have performed better only on the basis of individual brilliance with our talented players shinning through -- mostly as stand alone units rather than a team.

Whether it was the bowling juggernaut of Wasim and Waqar or the batting machine of Inzamam and Saeed -- we have needed extraordinary individual contributions to counter the more professional outfits in world cricket.

For such teams, the shorter versions of the game offer an indefeasible opportunity to make this individual brilliance count for more than its worth. West Indies is also an example -- a team reeling against the English in both the test matches and ODI's just weeks ago, managed to compete in the semi finals of the T20 World Cup on the basis of its unpredictable character. For example, it took one typically out of the ordinary Chris Gayle performance to reduce the world-beating Australians to the humiliation of a first round exit from the T20 World Cup.

Individual brilliance can have an impact in all formats of the game but more so in the shorter version as twenty overs afford little time or opportunity for recovery to the opponent, while a five day game rewards consistency much more than a short burst of brilliance.

This is a factor contributing to the success of not just unpredictable stalwarts like Pakistan and West Indies, but also minnows such as Ireland and Holland who tend to spring more upsets in shorter games than in the longer ones, because of such individual flashes of cricket.

There are also arguments that T20 as a form of cricket is exiting precisely because it bridges the gap between the competing nations -- between those with better systems and those with more heart. The format itself is more unpredictable and thus suits teams like Pakistan who themselves prosper on being difficult to comprehend.

But is T20 only a one-night stand with absolutely no let up from a no holds barred approach or does it also offer something to those willing to make a longer commitment of consistency and planning? Up until the world cup, India had shown that there was a method to the madness -- using a clear cut strategy towards the game to pull together a string of consistent results. But even the clogs of their well oiled 20-20 machine came to grinding and abrupt halt in the T20 World Cup. Their pre-world cup run, however, still shows that teams would eventually evolve a system for success even in the 20-20 format, but until that happens, teams with the elusive x-factor would continue to come from cricket oblivion to make an impact on this new format.

Twenty-twenty does not require plans, it calls for bravery; it does not reward those who are circumspect, it values those with little to fear. "In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice there is."

Pakistan fits the 20-20 bill and will continue to do so for years to come.

Twenty20 cricket. It should be renamed because it is not cricket. It can be cricball or basecket -- an unhappy marriage like all marriages of baseball and cricket.

The name has to change because it is a new game. None of the old terms and principles apply here. The best thing about cricket were the cricketing shots -- the elegant cover drives of Jack Hobbs, the delicate leg glances of Ranjitsinji, the square cuts of Bradman or the violent but proper hitting of Richards , the exquisite wrist work of Zaheer Abbas and the delicate touch of Hanif… But this cricket defies all this. If there was improvisation in Sobers it was improvisation because the rest of the batsmen followed orthodox rules. Now improvisation has become the rule -- probably, a straight bat could be counted as an improvisation, followed by a whole lot of boos and barracking from spectators wanting incredible action on every ball. When things are made to stand on their heads, the nomenclature too should be read upside down.

There is hardly a cricketing shot that is played. If the ball is outside the off stump it is played swept on the leg side; if it is on the leg stump it is slogged over the covers, the most miserable shot is into the third man region, lofted, and then a whole series of swipes which can take the ball anywhere, off the edge, miscued preferably to the boundary. And how the crowds love this bonus accruing from an error.

No names have been coined for this sort of cricket. The straight bat elbow up batsmanship should be buried and cremated, its ashes sprayed over the graves of Alf Gover or Pelham Warner who studiously made manuals of the game and enforced it in their coaching schools.

What are we going to do to the field positions -- none are the orthodox covers, mid offs and mid ons, the slips as they stood with each other, four in number hoping to catch the edge off a Lillee's or Holding's outswingers. The arm came straight with the elbow not bent and the ball delivered from the top.

Now, in this new game, the slips are gone, probably one found controlling an area, the arc from first slip to gulley. Then all those silly positions --the short legs, for example. All these have become redundant in a game that is hell bent on whacking the ball to the fence, preferably in the air.

Bradman scored his triple test century with only fours. For him, batsmanship was playing the ball around the ground, and lofting a ball was poor showmanship. The virtuosity was to play the ball along the ground and keep the scoreboard moving. The bowlers with round arm actions and bent elbows in the name of disability -- cringing.

Well, I don't know the spirit of cricket was not to get wildly excited about the bat belting the leather. It was about the niceties of the game and how it merged with the peculiarities of the weather. In England, it was part of the village green as people sat on the boundary, chatting, having their beer, eating, lolling the whole day, developing the art of conversation between the time afforded by deliveries and overs. So much had been written about cricket because of this cultivated leisure. The competition was not open and brutal. It was ensconced and keen. Cricket merged with sociability, an extension of having a party that lasted the whole day in which people came and went talking of cricket and a whole lot of other things.

And of course all this brutal hitting can only be facilitated if the surface you play on is flat. The biggest casualty of this type of game has been the wicket that it is played on. The great unknown in the universe of cricket was the behaviour of the wicket --will it bounce or will the ball keep low? Will it help the movement? Will it wear soon? Will it take spin? How will it turn out after the third day or after a sharp short shower? And countries built their national sides on the strength of their natural conditions. Now the only function of the wicket is to help the batsmen accumulate runs at a maddening pace. It is a variety of agricultural shots, one after the other meted out to a bowler who is not trying to get the batsman out but to make him err in his maddening riot of shots.

When limited overs cricket (60 overs) started in the 1960s in England, it was considered a revolution. The entire idea of forcing external parametres to the game were revolting but now it is Twenty20 and tomorrow it will be Ten10 and then Five5. Perhaps then it will be time for this totally different game to be called by a different name. Till then the mouth should be kept shut -- and hurray to the World Champions Twenty20 Cricket!

Experts are not surprised with the performance of the Pakistan cricket team in ICC World Twenty20 Championship 2009. They believe T20 is a form of cricket which is closer to the kind of game that is played in Pakistan.

"T20 is basically an extension of the sport which is played in every nook and corner of the country. This form of cricket was introduced at the international level in the year 2007 but in Pakistan it is decades old," says veteran cricket journalist Qamar Ahmad, talking to TNS.

According to him, T20 is all about fun and entertainment. "It's a 120-ball game and the batsmen are supposed to make use of every single ball and get maximum runs. Nobody cares about the batsmen's style. Only runs matter. The cricket in our clubs and streets is also about making maximum runs."

The structure of the domestic cricket is very weak "yet we are producing champions. On the other hand, England has probably the most organised domestic cricket structure but they have not been able to produce champions, especially in T20, because they are not trained in this shorter version of cricket as we are."

Qamar says an official T20 Champions' League is being played in Pakistan for the past three years now, among teams of different regions and departments.

As they grow up playing this sort of cricket in schools, colleges and even at the club levels, the players are not quite suited to play a longer-duration game. They are also not accustomed to coaching. So everybody believes in playing their own game and not the traditional 'team' game.

"The structure of T20 is such that it permits no recovery time to teams; a single player alone can change the complexion of the game. In that sense, this game is very unpredictable. And since Pakistan cricket team is also known for its unpredictability on the pitch, this format suits us," says Aamir Bilal, ex-media advisor Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

Aamir quotes renowned cricket commentator and writer Harsha Bhogle on the impact of the duration of a T20 game, "If football is played for over 20 minutes, Manchester United and Barcelona may not be in the final." This clearly shows the difference between T20 and other, more traditional forms of cricket.

"Reducing the game to smaller number of overs adds an element of surprise," he says. "It is easy to play your best cricket for three hours, but it's not easy when you have to stretch it over a day. In that light, T20 suits Pakistan cricket team better."

Kashif Mahmood, a budding first class cricketer from Sialkot, who is also part of the Sialkot Stallion, a cricket team that has won three consecutive local T20 cups in Pakistan, tells TNS that first class players in Pakistan have been playing a lot of T20 cricket. "Our focus has totally shifted to T20 in the last three years or so. We have been playing it every second day as there are scores of T20 tournaments in Pakistan.

"With the introduction of T20 cricket, the opportunities to make money for first class cricketers have also increased manifold."

Test cricketer and former chief selector of Pakistan cricket team Abdul Qadir is a big fan of T20 cricket and believes that Pakistan will continue to show good form in the future.

"The domestic infrastructure of Pakistan cricket is very poor and the role of the PCB is also very weak. The PCB cannot claim to have produced even a single player of note in Pakistan; it's always due to his own efforts and hard work that a player reaches whatever level of excellence he does," he says.

Pakistan, a cricketing powerhouse, has been hit hard by the US-led war on terror. The repercussions of this carnage have had a massive impact on almost every aspect of life in this land of the pure.

Sports, cricket in particular, have been seriously affected during the past few years. First, teams like Australia and New Zealand opted against touring Pakistan and later South Africa, India and others decided against coming here.

New Zealand last toured Pakistan in 2002, but their tour met an unfortunate end when a suicide bomb exploded in front of their hotel in Karachi. This was perhaps the first blow. However, it wasn't yet the end of international cricket in Pakistan.

Pakistan even staged the Asia Cup in the year 2008 and things looked to be coming back to normalcy. But, then the Mumbai attacks occurred on Nov 26, 2008, and the war of words eventually started between India and Pakistan. Relationship between the two countries strained, so much so that India postponed its next tour to Pakistan and later it was cancelled. In a desperate attempt to recover from this setback, Pakistan invited Bangladesh for a tour, but even Bangladesh appeared reluctant and declined the invitation. So, in a last ditch attempt, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) asked its close friend Sri Lanka to send its team on a full tour; and our friends in need accepted the plea.

What followed, however, was disastrous for cricket in Pakistan. On the morning of March 3, 2009, the visiting Sri Lankan team was on its way to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore from their hotel; it was the third day of the second Test match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. En route to the stadium a group of armed men opened fire on the Sri Lankan team bus; several policemen lost their lives and Sri Lankan players suffered serious injuries. But, thankfully, they all survived this shocking incident.

That was it. It was the final nail in the coffin of international cricket in Pakistan. Such was the impact of this carnage that Pakistan was deprived of its rights to hold the world cup in 2011. Our players were already being sidelined by the Indian Premier League organisers, the BCCI, and it looked like there was no way Pakistan could recover from it.

IPL rescinded Pakistan players' contracts and the second season started in South Africa without a single representation from Pakistan. The IPL was followed by the second T20 World Cup in England. India was defending its crown and the chances of it winning again looked bright. But, that wasn't to be; Pakistan started the tournament with back to back defeats at the hands of India and South Africa in the warm-up matches, but, recovered well to knock teams out of the tournament one by one. They ended South Africa's unbeaten run in the semis and title favourites Sri Lanka got a hammering in the final as Pakistan lifted the trophy.

This victory was important in more ways than one. On one hand it successfully catapulted Pakistan back among the top teams in the world and on the other hand it has given us a renewed hope of the return of cricket to Pakistan.

How far will this win go towards convincing the ICC and other associations to seriously start considering Pakistan as a destination for international cricket, only time will tell.

But, the whole nation is indeed very hopeful and so are our former players and people in the PCB.

PCB top brass is hopeful of attracting foreign teams to Pakistan. The chairman of the PCB Ijaz Butt is adamant that cricketing ties will resume in Pakistan.

Captain Younis Khan who returned to Karachi after guiding his team to World Championship is more confident than ever before about the return of cricket to Pakistan. He believes the team's performance will cement Pakistan's claim to hosting major events in the future. Pakistan is one of the best teams in the world with enthusiastic fans and it will be unjustified to deprive such passionate fans from international cricket.

Pakistan's world cup hero Shahid Afridi, who is now the favourite to lead Pakistan in T20s, was more vocal of the unjust decision of the ICC and believes Pakistan is going through hard times and the national team's performance showed that we can only succeed if we stand united. Cricket should return to Pakistan. Our fans deserve to see international cricket.

The cricketing fraternity looks to have grown in confidence all of a sudden after this triumphant victory. However, there is still a lot to be done in order to attract teams like Australia to consider touring Pakistan in future.

Terrorism is not Pakistan's problem alone; other countries have been affected by it as well. India, as we all know, has remained a target of terrorism during the past; they had to even shift their lucrative T20 tournament to South Africa for security purposes. The BCCI, however, didn't allow foreign teams to lose faith in their abilities to stage mega events. As a result, they were not deprived of their rights to hold world cup matches in 2011. Pakistan, on the other hand, is fighting hard to get their share of the matches back; which at the moment look to be going India's way, too.

It's now or never, for the PCB. Pakistan at the moment is in a position to get the message through; the opportunity is there for the taking. The world has its eyes on Pakistan and this is the right time to tell the whole world that we are a cricket-mad country and there is no reason why international cricket should not return to our land.