Balochistan is Pakistan's smallest province as per population which is just over one million. But it is the largest in terms of area, as much as 40% of the total Pakistan. It is rich in natural resources. The most well-known is of course the natural gas more popularly known as Sui Gas, named after the place in Balochistan where it was first discovered.

In spite of the scattered population and limited infrastructure, the province has made its presence felt in Pakistan sports. The most widely played sport here is the world's most popular game, soccer. In fact, Balochistan always had representation in the national team far more than the ratio of its little population.

Boxers, especially from its capital Quetta's Hazara community, have won numerous laurels for country. Perhaps the most famous among them is Syed Abrar Hussain, the gold medallist of the Asian Games 1990 -- Pakistan's last boxing gold in the Asiad.

Balochistan's Pathans have excelled in squash. The foremost among them have been the Jahan brothers, Hiddy (Hidayat), Zarak and Zubair, who all achieved top 10 rankings in world squash. Even former world champion Qamar Zaman began his squash career from Quetta. The province has also produced national champions in weightlifting and bodybuilding.

In Pakistan's national game of hockey also, players from Balochistan have excelled. The first Balochistan player to don the coveted green shirt was half-back Safdar Babul who played in the 1952 Olympics.

Then after a long gap, a hockey international emerged from here. He was the lanky full-back, the late Riazuddin. A sound and sedate defender, Riazuddin's international career was cut short by fitness problems. But he achieved great glory during that period. He was a proud member of the Pakistan team which regained the Olympic gold in 1968 followed by the Asian Games gold in 1970.

In the late 1970s emerged another star from Quetta. Like Riazuddin, left-half Mohammad Shafiq's international career was also not very long. During Shafiq's stint as well, the Pakistan hockey team won a plethora of honours.

He was first choice left-half during 1978 -- the annus mirabilis of Pakistan hockey when Pakistan won three major tournaments on the trot, the World Cup, Asian Games and Champions Trophy. Shafiq also remained the manager of the national junior team a few years back.

After a long hiatus, the recent years have seen not one but two players from Quetta winning the national colours. One of them is striker Shakeel Abbasi who is regarded by many as the best forward in Pakistan's current squad while full-back Zeeshan Ashraf is a sound defender impressing all with his cool temperament and effective checking and anticipation.

And Zeeshan Ashraf created history during the just concluded Pakistan-China series when he became the first player from Balochistan to captain Pakistan's national hockey team.

The soft spoken Quetta boy debuted for Pakistan in 2001 during the Prime Minister Gold Cup tournament in Bangladesh. He struggled to get a permanent spot during his early years and was not selected for the 2002 World Cup. His first big title tournament was Commonwealth games (2002) though after a few months, he was again dropped after the Asiad.

Zeeshan made a comeback in 2003 for the tri-nation tournament in Australia. Since then, apart from a period in 2006, he has been a regular choice. During this period he has appeared in the Olympics and World Cup as well as all the editions of Champions Trophy.

Like all the hockey internationals mentioned above, Zeeshan is also a product of Quetta's famous Government Sandeman School which played a major role in his early hockey development. While he appeared in the local tournaments for Aslam hockey club for which his other brothers also played. He gives great credit to his club coach, the former junior international Ghulam Jillani for honing his skills.

His first selection was for Quetta in the national junior championships and from then onwards there was no looking back. Soon he was assisting his city's senior squad. Zeeshan's first departmental side on the national circuit was PIA. Presently he is playing for National Bank where he is a contract employee. He has also appeared in India's PHL (Premier Hockey league) as an overseas professional.

Zeeshan's ideal in hockey is Pakistan's former full-back and captain, the late Qazi Mohib (1985-90).

Now 30 years of age and happily married with a daughter, he is a veteran of over 200 internationals. The level headed Zeeshan admits that Pakistan hockey is going through its darkest phase. "During my international career of seven years, we have not won any title tournament."

Let us hope, under the leadership of the boy form Pakistan's smallest province, Pakistan hockey comes out of its darkest phase and starts its journey to reclaim the lost glory.

Human history has been filled with empires and their thirst for domination and exploitation. But we won't discuss empires here today. I am just raising this issue of empires because they usually rear foot soldiers whose main responsibility is to support these empires to any stretch in their activities of usurping resources and of repressing people.

And foot soldiers of such empires are never held in any kind of high esteem usually neither in the hearts of people nor in the annals of history.

Unfortunately, the contemporary cricketing world is all set to see the emergence of a super power in its sanctuary, in the shape of BCCI -- the Board of Control for Cricket in India -- and more sadly the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), it seems, will be playing the part of its foot soldier.

Last year, it was between the BCCI and Indian Cricket League (ICL) who tried to break the shackles of the BCCI monopoly on the Indian cricket circuit. It was a brave decision which has put the careers of several cricketers round the world on the line.

The Indian cricket governing authority does not want any partner in its lion's share. They pressed International Cricket Council (ICC) hard to not to acknowledge the ICL because the BCCI generates 75 to 80 per cent revenues in world cricket, and the ICL posed a real threat to the hegemony of the Indian board.

So they used anything in their power to stop that challenge from gaining strength.

Several Pakistani players have also joined the ICL including Inzamam-ul-Haq, Imran Farhat, Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Yousuf, Taufeeq Umar and Shabbir Ahmed. All of them are Pakistan's Test players but the way the Indian board was twisting the arm of ICC to discredit the ICL pushed the PCB into such a tight corner that they had to take the stern action of not allowing these cricketers from participating in any domestic and international competitions for Pakistan.

In other words they were asking the players "whether you are with them or us".

Yousuf was forced to mend his ways by banning him from representing Pakistan if he went on to play any of the ICL match last year. In Pakistan certain sections believe that cricketers have the right to earn their livelihood and restricting any player from representing any of the league is above the law and impermissible. But the power of Indian cricket board's money made the PCB a lame duck that failed to stand up for its players.

This year the whole issue has experienced another twist when the Pakistan board laid aside all ambiguities by reaffirming their stance on the whole issue with Dr Nasim Ashraf telling the press, "These players will not represent Pakistan internationally or in domestic cricket".

"We have to protect Pakistan cricket. There are reports that recruiting agents from the ICL are looking for more players, possibly a team from Pakistan, and that will harm cricket here," he added.

That statement made players feel more insecure because not allowing any player to feature in international cricket is a serious affair regardless of what you can earn on the other hand but representing one's country is the honour any player can ever dreamt of.

So consequently the players concerned decided to take the PCB to the court if they were not ready to revise their decision.

"We will discuss this among ourselves and take some advice from Inzi bhai before we move forward," Imran Farhat had told Cricinfo. "This is a very sad situation and we will try everything in our powers to get back to playing for Pakistan."

He further added "The petition wasn't filed. We reconsidered and decided to wait on it because the message conveyed to us was that the board's governing committee might change its mind and let us play after their meeting [on January 25]".

Now if you think that this is an issue of principle and law then look at what Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum said on two different occasions.

When someone asked him what he thought of the players' decision to go to the court, he said it openly: "The ban is a clear-cut case of restraining someone from earning from his trade. If these players decide to seek redress from the court then they have a strong case against the board as the ban is not justified. The board can't stop a player from earning his livelihood. The ban on playing domestic cricket can be challenged by the players."

It was all shown on Geo TV on January 30, 2008.

Then after a few days he took a sharp U-turn over the whole issue. "As requested, I have examined the matter in depth and also gone through the various documents sent to me particularly clause 3.4 of the ICL agreement," he said through a PCB statement.

"Upon deeper consideration, I am of the opinion that it would not be restraint of trade to disallow various cricketers from playing in Pakistan's first-class cricket.

"The main reason which compelled me to form this opinion is that according to the information supplied to me, in case of a conflict in the ICL agreement, the commitments of the ICL agreements are taken to supersede all other commitments. In view of all of the above, I'm of the considered view that it can be permissible to disallow cricketers contracting with the ICL from playing domestically in Pakistan."

As the Indian Premier League (IPL) is just weeks from entering its inaugural tournament in April, the PCB took another step in bolstering a ban on the Pakistani players (joining the ICL).

They are thinking about not issuing the NOC to play county cricket in England which is necessary to participate in the domestic circuit to the players who are willing to sign with the unsanctioned ICL.

The PCB has said that it is in the line with their policy over the contentious issue. But what about players?

You permit top guns like Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Asif and Younis Khan to play in the IPL for hefty appearance moneys because it has the NOC of the BCCI. In contrast, other professional players, who for various reasons can't join the IPL, are discouraged from even taking the name of ICL!

From the cricketers' basic right viewpoint, isn't it quite absurd? Can an authority stop a person from earning his bread and butter just because the source of income is not sanctioned officially?

This paradox in our board's stance signals the PCB is under the strong influence of the Indian cricket board, which is predominantly based upon money power and of course not upon fundamental human rights.

So, on the subject of ICL, while looking at the wider picture and keeping their national as well as players' individual interest as the top priorities, the PCB should adopt a policy that can be regarded comprehensively satisfactory for all the stakeholders.

Everything seems to be going against the Pakistan cricket team these days. Be these the past controversies, which troubled them severely, or the present ones, which don't die down at any cost, the national squad along with its board are once again feeling the heat.

After Australia said no to tour Pakistan saying that they had 'postponed' their visit sighting hazardous circumstances in the South Asian country, the home side were left in tatters.

Their entire efforts to convince the world champions in the fifty-over format went in vain. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) got in the state of agony. Nothing worked properly for them. But their backup plans came to the rescue and national team's hopes of playing international cricket this summer were boosted.

Asian rivals Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were asked to do the honour of helping out Pakistan. Both the teams were pencilled in to play internationals against the home side soon though Sri Lanka's demand of more money for their participation has been a worrying factor for the PCB.

If that wasn't enough, calls for change of venue of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy (CT) to other place than Pakistan were made after the security situation worsened here and Australia's decision followed later.

Sri Lanka, under their new cricket chief Arjuna Ranatunga, have emerged as the possible candidate to host the tournament in case the above request is accepted. The best Test team in the world along with New Zealand have expressed security fears in Pakistan and it wouldn't be a surprise if the CT hosting is taken away from Pakistan.

With Pakistan cricketing interest badly shattered, not for the first time though, and future international commitments in jeopardy, an old leaf from the national cricket book emerged to haunt them (Pakistan) again.

The 'Darrell Hair' saga has erupted once more and this time there is a bad news for Pakistan fans and for those who believe in the fairness of the game and feel the game belongs to the gentlemen -- Hair has been reinstated as an international umpire.

The Australian, once the best umpire in world cricket, hasn't umpired in a Test or a One-day International (ODI) for nearly two years now -- since August 2006 to be precise.

It was then when one of the most embarrassing moments occurred in the history of the game. Pakistan were on their tour of England and were playing their fourth and final Test, already 0-2 down in the series, against the hosts at The Oval.

During the match, Hair, along with his West Indian colleague Billy Doctrove, penalised Pakistan five runs for alleged ball-tampering -- a decision which infuriated the visiting skipper and his team. Pakistan, under the captaincy of Inzamam-ul-Haq, refused to take the field and demonstrated a protest.

As a result, the match was abandoned -- the first time in the history of Test cricket -- and one of the most-talked about topics were created. England were awarded the first Test victory by forfeit in the history as well.

Charges were laid against Hair afterwards and he was called a biased person. His claims that Pakistan had tampered with the ball were never proved and his allegations against the team from subcontinent resulted in his downfall.

Since then, he had only officiated in matches between Associate teams of the ICC and wasn't included in the ICC Elite Panel of Umpires list. But things have taken a sudden change.

During the ICC's meeting in Dubai last week, Hair was cleared to return to umpiring Tests and ODIs between the leading cricket nations.

This proves that in spite of all the support Pakistan got from the Asian bloc in making Hair stand down, the ICC still supports other countries at large and isn't really able to provide the justice.

As expected, the decision to reinstate Hair has made Pakistanis go fuming.

Inzamam on Wednesday, a day after Hair's reinstatement, said he was "shocked and disgusted" by this decision and said the move was an insult. "I am terribly shocked and disgusted at the news," he said.

The PCB, in recent years, has looked helpless in dealing with such major cases and it once again has failed to support its players and fight injustice.

Inzamam, meanwhile, said that Hair's comeback was to be blamed on the PCB. "I would blame the PCB for bowing down in Hair's case and no player will now stand against injustices at international level. Hair was at fault but he is reinstated like a hero," Inzamam expressed.

Inzamam, who was cleared of ball-tampering charges after The Oval Test but received a four-match ban for bringing the game into disrepute, said Hair's reinstatement reflected double standards in the ICC, saying the world governing body had failed in handling of the situation.

Hair, who controversially offered to resign in return for a huge sum of money by the ICC after The Oval incident, was further slammed by Inzamam who said that the Australian wasn't an honest person.

Pakistan, who on that tour of England drew the five-match ODI series 2-2 after the first match was washed out, had Shaharyar Khan as the PCB chief at that time.

Shaharyar, retaliating at the Hair decision, said the decision was a "slap on the face of Pakistan cricket".

Pakistan, unlike India, are a weaker side in terms of decision-making at the international level and this deficiency was quoted by former Pakistan captain Rameez Raja, now a TV commentator.

"The decision of Hair's recall shows Pakistan's lack of presence at international forums. It is surprising that Hair was reinstated without being tried and tested. It shows that the international community is ready to walk over Pakistan whenever they want," Rameez said.

Meanwhile, ICC has said that Hair is unlikely to officiate at matches involving Pakistan.

General Manager of the ICC, former South Africa wicket-keeper Dave Richardson, has said that the world governing body would act to prevent Hair from standing in matches involving Pakistan.

Now if that's the case, why have the ICC reinstated Hair in the first place. It means that the ICC was under severe pressure from Australia to call Hair back and as they have done now, they are seeking measures to avoid any other controversy.

Richardson, though, said that Hair would not be barred from officiating in all the matches involving Asian teams as it was pointless having an umpire on the Elite Panel who is excluded from umpiring certain teams.

The question which arises here is "isn't Pakistan a 'certain team'?"

Whatever happens next is unknown but for the time being, injustice and poor decisions prevail over the cricketing world. And Pakistan have been the ones who have suffered the most because of them.

The ICC isn't able to handle major issues properly. It still hasn't figured out how to handle the Indian Premier League (IPL) issue. The official league is attracting more and more star players because of the huge money it has splashed worldwide.

This has resulted in disrupting the future of major Test playing nations (such as West Indies and New Zealand) who aren't as rich as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and are unable to keep hold of their players for international assignments.

They are losing them (their players) at a rapid pace to the IPL as well as to the 'rebel' Indian Cricket League (ICL), who just recently staged their second tournament in two years.

Amongst other issues, matter related to Zimbabwe is still the hot topic for discussion. Poor umpiring was at the top of the agenda at the ICC moot recently but a few solutions have now been proposed. The international cricket body needs to find the solutions quickly if they want to save the image of the game go from bad to worst.

And they also need to look at what Pakistan have been going through. They need to assure the cricket-mad nation of more international tournaments hosting. The ICC needs to convince other nations that Pakistan is a safe place to play cricket.

Other Test teams should realise that all the trouble created in Pakistan these days isn't directed towards them. They will have to keep this in mind that cricket has always developed strong bonding between the nations and if they tour Pakistan, this will garner positive outcome and help Pakistan improve their tarnished image.

A wicket-keeper who could average over 60 plus with the bat in six Tests would be concreted into a 21st century team. Taslim Arif was the batsman/wicket-keeper who blazed the trail for the likes of Kumara Sangakkara some twenty eight years ago, when a keeper's first qualification was his ability with the gauntlets.

Taslim Arif was an outstanding Pakistan batsman, ironically, whose name will not always be linked with his great contemporaries, a Javed Miandad or Imran Khan. Taslim in spite of close skirmishes with greatness in international matches couldn't really make it to the top. Nevertheless, he had a profound and beneficent influence on local and first-class cricket in the country.

From the outset of the 1970s Taslim's prolific scoring and unmatched wicket-keeping put him in the forefront of national cricket, and laid the groundwork for the achievements of a succession of teams from Karachi, later to become notable for the sheer exhilaration with which Taslim imbued the game.

No other team in the history ever had such a gifted collection of batsmen including Zaheer Abbas, Asif Iqbal, Mushtaq Mohammad and Taslim in the early and mid-1970s. It remains one of the Pakistan game's more romantic facts that such notable batsmen should have emerged simultaneously followed by people like Javed Miandad, Mohsin Khan, Aftab Baloch and Haroon Rasheed in one city team.

A high quality batsman although Taslim had found batting difficult in his early days, after making his debut for Karachi Blues against Karachi University barely aged 13 in 1967-68. One reason he took up wicket-keeping was to keep his place. He developed into a player who could hit the ball off either foot with intimidating power.

Taslim held his hands low on the bat handle and unwound from a crouched stance to drive, square cut and hook with great certainty. He was always at his best against fast bowling. Taslim had none of Zaheer Abbas's feline grace and little of the bustling footwork, which marked an innings by the shorter, stronger Javed Miandad. The contrasts between them were always part of their fascination for connoisseurs.

I knew Taslim quite well -- at least better than the anguished Chairman PCB attending his funeral. Taslim had seen ups and lows in life frequently and was never brooding, regretful or pensive -- he was a large-hearted character. One was gladdened to listen to Dr Nasim saying in one of the television interviews that Taslim's family would be given a lifelong pension -- he was talking about the same pension policy that was implemented in presence of the President of Pakistan just before our team left for their disastrous World Cup 2007 campaign -- the ex-cricketers kept on waiting, staring the empty envelopes given to them on the occasion.

Months passed and Arif Butt died monetarily hard-pressed -- that full envelope from the PCB never reached him. Let's hope, it reaches Taslim's widow spot on time, expectantly before Dr Nasim is asked to leave.

"The past is another country", wrote my mentor Omar Kureishi and every week he wrote with eloquence and affection of times that had gone by. Memory covers flaws -- that's true and from the distance of years, the cracks the fissures appear benign and acceptable. It is understandably the way the world moves because time is that great motion over which no one can claim any ownership yet each of us experiences it, in our own way and in our own place -- same is with life and death. We moan, cry and forget -- at least, at the moment, I am saddened that death came to Taslim.

Sad is also the state of country's cricket. So while we plunge headless ahead, sideways or behind -- no one is ready to tell anymore, we might as well keep quiet and listen to the grandiosity ridden statements of the Chairman of the PCB. At least, with words he shows us a very bright future -- that should be consolation enough. And that just about sums it up. You have to tip your hat in admiration for Dr Nasim and his indefatigable Secretariat at Lahore for their awe-inspiring determination to succeed with an agenda high on their list.

The recent accounts of how hard the Secretariat has been pressing the Chairman to implement policy providing perks, allowances and privileges to them making us looking like wimps. It's more about "I have a cunning plan". Cunning it is indeed -- ingenuity and single-mindedness of purpose at play.

Recently the Pakistan Under-19s forfeited their World Cup title and suddenly there was someone appearing in a television show chastising Mansoor Rana, the team's coach terming him a back door entrant. If there is a permanent establishment of the PCB and its Board of Governors which goes beyond politics and individual interests and thinks about Pakistan cricket's well being, why is it not taking a stand and putting an end to steps that divide the cricket governments, also accentuating the need of meritocracy being conscientiously introduced at all levels.

That gentleman should have stood up and openly stated that presently cricket is being held hostage to the personal ambitions of one man and to the antics of his elite directors. Why he is not pushing for an early resolution of the conflicts and advising that an individual cannot be greater than the game.

Already, stories have begin to emerge that not purely Australia refused to come to Pakistan -- as stated by ICC's Samiul Hasan Burney that the series was postponed with mutual consent and there was no way PCB could ask for any compensation. Compensation or the insurance claims, PCB has again mucked it up.

That is not good. The fault lines are obvious and so are the solutions. There is only one decent way out of this crisis. It will be good for the Chairman PCB and a huge balm on the festering wound of national cricket. He should acknowledge that most of his ill-equipped policies were glaring mistakes and pin the blame on bad advice. And he should resign.

Mansoor Rana was openly condemned. He is a qualified Level II coach from Malaysia. He also completed High Performance Accreditation (Batting & Bowling) and Level I Tutor Training Course from Thailand. Mansoor, after his first-class career was over was hired by the Faisalabad team in 2003, and he spurred them to an unprecedented regional tournament win. Mansoor also took his team to a sequence of titles, with Faisalabad winning the one-day cup, the T20, and again in 2004 helping them to annex the T20 international tournament held in Leicestershire in England.

Interestingly, ADBP also won the first-class championship in 2003-04 with Mansoor as coach. To top it off, Mansoor was a brilliant first-class cricketer, totalling thousand runs in a season on four separate occasions, three times in succession in 1988-89, 1989-90 and 1990-91. In all he appeared in 205 first-class matches scoring 12,026 runs at 42.95 with 25 hundreds and 71 half-centuries.

As Pakistan Under-19s coach he helped them to win the World Cup in 2006 before being removed from the post. In his place Saleem Altaf, the then Director Cricket Operations, appointed a relatively unknown Mohsin Sheikh. The Pakistan Under-19s team with Mansoor back as their coach toured England and drew the Test series 1-1, and winning the five-match one-day internationals (3-1).

At home against Australia Under-19s, Pakistan triumphed 5-0 in a five-match series. Bangladesh arrived; the Test was drawn whilst Pakistan Under-19s won the first two one-day matches. Regrettably with the selectors intervening and experimenting, they lost the series 3-2.

There was the tri-nation tournament in Sri Lanka. England was the third team. Pakistan beat Sri Lanka in the finals. And finally Pakistan Under-19s went to Malaysia to defend their world title. Pakistan had to travel to Johor Bahru where the pitches were soft and wet, helping the spinners. Pakistan won all their three matches albeit low scoring ones. Australia were trounced in the quarter-finals. Ironically, in the semifinal, due to overnight rain Pakistan Under-19s couldn't practice under floodlights. And even in the morning they had to overcome the difficulties on a soaked outfield. By this time, Pakistan had developed the knack of bowling first feeling comfortable chasing not so tall scores. It wasn't the team's management but their captain looking a pedestrian, crumbling in pressure situations.

Knowing that rain could siphon off their chances to advance to the finals, Mansoor constantly advised his players about how the Duckworth and Lewis interpretations could put them in trouble. And more, there was an unwarranted incident.

One of their batsmen, Ahmad Shahzad dived while trying to avoid a run out. At that juncture only seven balls remained to see through the first twenty overs. It was drizzling as Pakistan's physiotherapist rushed to the ground. Mansoor was seen shouting that no treatment was to be given since it was an evident race against time. South Africa were on their toes -- they adapted to the situation, using delaying tactics and rain came when Pakistan Under-19s requiring to score 91 runs in 20 overs were stranded on 86 in 18.5 overs.

Off the field, the tour management dealt with the players pretty decently not grilling them as it appeared in the media. Now, Mansoor couldn't ask one of his player's girlfriends to stop seeing him or could go to every night club to fetch them home.

It is important to understand these mechanics of regime change because many among the intelligentsia have already written Dr Nasim's legacy off. This is more than slightly optimistic. While Pakistan's downward drive has badly bruised the Chairman PCB and certainly destroyed his public image, it does not mean that Dr Nasim is ready to go.

The more sophisticated among the observers do agree on one point though. It is no longer possible, they say, for him to remain in office. They come to this conclusion because their every hope has been torn into shreds.

The recently concluded tour of Bangladesh has proved lucky for South Africa and its skipper Graeme Smith. After making a clean sweep (3-0) in the ODI series, the Proteas ended the long supremacy of world champions Australia at the number one position in the ICC ranking with just a fraction of points.

South Africa have now obtained 147 points in 43 ODIs while Australia have the same number of points (147) but they have played one match more compared to South Africa.

The other teams in the ICC ranking are New Zealand (3rd), India (4th), Pakistan (5th), Sri Lanka (6th), England (7th), West Indies (8th), Bangladesh (9th) and Ireland (10th).

After taking first position South Africa will also receives US$175,000 as ICC ODI champions of the year as on April 1. The second position holder side will get US$75,000.

Expressing his views a delighted Smith said that "Outside of winning World Cups the world championships rankings is the next most important thing. You have to be consistent to be ranked number one and I think we have reached that level of consistency over a period of time. We have performed very well and I am very proud of what the guys have achieved over the last two years. We have the talent and if we can control the small things."

A successful series in Bangladesh also permit South African captain Graeme Smith to remove Sachin Tendulkar from the top spot in the ICC One-day batting rankings with 292 points while Sachin slip to second spot with 777 points and Australian skipper Ricky Ponting on third place with 770 points.

Smith started the Bangladesh ODI series with South Africa at third position in the ICC one-day ranking and he was 24 points behind Tendulkar, but his consistent performance where he scored 199 runs in three matches and was dismissed just one time removed Tendulkar from the number one position. He will also receive US$175,000 as the number one batsman in One-day Internationals.

Smith will the remember Bangladesh tour for a long time where he achieved many milestones. Apart from he and his side getting first position in the ICC ODI rankings, Smith also reached a personal milestone when during the second One-day International he completed his 5000 runs in the shorter version of the game. Smith is enjoying good batting form these days as he scored nine half-centuries and a hundred with a healthy average of 52.35 in his last 19 One-day Internationals.

Graeme Smith was appointed South African captain in March 2003 at the age of just 22, as the youngest ever skipper for South Africa. He was handed over a demoralised side after a shameful defeat in the 2003 World Cup, when the home side failed to qualify for the Super Six stage. But the young Smith has led from the front from the start and the team followed him all the way against all opponents.

A challenging target is waiting for Smith as South Africa is touring India for three Tests starting from 26th March. It will be a good contest as both sides are in good form. Smith, Kallis, AB de Villiers, Amla, Ashwell Prince etc are in good batting touch.

On the other hand, India always remain a tough team to beat on its home ground. India also won the tri-series finals 2-0 against Australia earlier this month. Though India lost 2-1 in the four-Test series against Australia India's Test captain Anil Kumble is confident that if his side continued to do well, then by the end of the year India will be there at number one.

Seven Test series have been played between South Africa and India so far. The Proteas have a clear upper hand with five series wins while India have been successful twice, both times on their home soil. South Africa also won a Test series (2-0) in India in 1999.

Little master Sachin Tendulkar is the highest run scorer between the two sides so far with 1202 Test runs in 19 matches with the help of three centuries and five fifties at an average of 36.42. Former opener and currently Indian coach Gary Kirsten remains the most successful batsman for South Africa with 720 runs in 10 Tests at an average of 40 including three hundred and three fifties. Jacques Kallis is just behind him with 704 runs in eight appearances.

On the bowling side, Indian spin maestro Anil Kumble has taken the most (80) wickets at an average of 30.37 in 19 Tests while former fast bowler Allan Donald has taken 57 wickets, averaging just 17.31 in 11 Test appearances

The recent two-Test and three-match ODI series between Bangladesh and the visiting South African cricket team concluded with the heavy thrashing of the hosts. And frankly such lop-sided results were very much on the card even before the beginning of the series last month. However, the two-match Test series particularly the second Test at the Chittagong Divisional stadium had some dramatic happenings that incidentally went totally unnoticed.

The double centurion duo Graeme Smith (232) and Neil McKenzie (226) created history in the third over of the second day when they broke the world record of 413 runs for the best opening stand, which was held by India's Pankaj Roy and Vinoo Mankad against New Zealand in 1956.

It was also only the second time that both openers had made double centuries in an innings. Australia's Bill Lawry (210) and Bobby Simpson (201) had achieved the feat against West Indies at Bridgetown in 1964-65. However, it was probably the 12th time in Test cricket history when two batsmen completed their respective double centuries in the same innings of a Test.

Three pairs of batsmen each from Pakistan, Australia and Sri Lanka have recorded such a remarkable distinction in the past. Another trio of great batsmen -- Don Bradman, Javed Miandad and Kumar Sangakkara -- have the honour of having featured in two such instances.

The Chittagong Test had also great significance for the retiring Bangladeshi left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique. Though in today's competitive cricket, the mark of 100 wickets is not considered of great importance but the way and in which circumstances Mohammad Rafique grabbed his 100th wicket, it looks astonishing.

And after completing his century of wickets, Rafique, who played in Bangladesh's inaugural Test in November 2000 against India, joined a select band of cricketers with 1000 runs in Tests and ODIs and 100 plus wickets in both forms of the game. Before Rafique, only 17 all-rounders could grab this unique honour. Among these cricketers, South African Jacques Kallis and West Indian Carl Hooper are the only two all-rounders with over a hundred catches also in both forms of the game.

Rafique became the first Bangladeshi player to complete the ODI double, against Zimbabwe in November 2007. Even top all-rounders like Sanath Jayasuriya, Steve Waugh and Lance Klusener could not win a place in the list of such an elite group of cricketers. Jayasuriya and Waugh missed the feat by just two and eight Test wickets, respectively.

Rafique, who already had announced his retirement after the South Africa Test series, had 94 Test wickets in his kitty before the brief rubber. In the first Test at Dhaka, Rafique captured four wickets (two in each innings) and it looked that the spinner would complete his century of wickets quite convincingly at Chittagong but the ruthless South Africans made it almost impossible through their record-breaking batting display.

On the opening day of the second Test, when Graeme Smith (232) and Neil McKenzie (226) posted a massive total of 405-0, the chances were very bleak for Rafique to take those much wanted two wickets. On the second morning, South Africa were cruising at 514-2 when local pacer Shahadat Hossain used reverse swing to trigger a collapse, which saw the visitors lose five wickets for 69 runs.

Hossain, who took three wickets in three successive overs, struck in the second over after lunch, sending back McKenzie but not before the batsman had hit his maiden double Test ton. The first five South African wickets were shared by Shahadat Hossain, Abdur Razzak and Shakib Al Hasan that made it even more difficult for Rafique to reach his hundred Test wickets. Then Bangladeshi skipper Ashraful tossed the ball over to Rafique, who dismissed Mark Boucher (21) when he had him caught in the slips for his 99th scalp.

At this stage, time was running out but the strong nerved spinner continued to try his all wicket-taking tricks. And finally he managed to do this by removing Robin Peterson. For his 100th wicket, Rafique, who hit an amazing 111 while batting at No. 9 against the West Indies at St Lucia in 2004, had to go through some exciting moments. At this stage, the visitors could have declared their innings any time after posting over 550 runs on the board. But luckily, they went on to play until Rafique completed his 100 wickets.

Since Chittagong was his last Test, one feared he might not get his 100th wicket but he pulled it off. Slip fielder Junaid Siddique helped Rafique in removing Robin Peterson. He floated it full outside off stump and Peterson went for an aggressive drive but got an edge to first slip where Junaid completed the process.

Interestingly, South Africa declared their only innings at 583-7 immediately after Rafique dismissed Robin Peterson. The instant declaration gave another incredible distinction to Mohammad Rafique, who has become probably the first Test cricketer with a wicket off the last ball of his career. South African seamer Dale Steyn also completed his 100 Test victims at Chittagong.