India reclaim second place in ranking with win over England
India's attaining a total of 387 in Chennai was the biggest target ever chased in India. The previous highest successful chase recorded was by West Indies with 276 runs in 1987
By Khurram Mahmood
India reclaimed second place from South Africa in the ICC Test ranking after beating England in the home Test series by 1-0 earlier this week. India won the first Test in Chennai by six wickets while the second Test at Mohali ended without producing a result.

Cricket and terrorism: One can only hope...
Let it be clearly understood that a country's policies should be guided by self interest. We should learn from our past that believing 'they will behave like friends' is never a permanent situation
By Malik Arshed Gilani p.s.n.
David Morgan has been reported as having made two comments on cricket in the sub continent which need to be take note of; Pakistan is another country. Terrorism and security in India is different! This may lead the cynic to conclude that for Mr Morgan the dangers from terrorism are inversely proportional to the financial powers of the cricket board where such terrorism occurs.

Usain Bolt gave athletics the boost it so desperately needed when he won an unprecedented Olympic sprint treble in world record times in Beijing. With former 100m world record holder Tim Montgomery and former five-time Olympic medallist Marion Jones languishing in jail, the Jamaican came into his own at the magnificent "Bird's Nest" stadium in the Chinese capital.

In front of capacity crowds of almost 90,000, Bolt won gold in the 100m and 200m -- in 9.69sec and 19.30sec -- and then ran the third leg of Jamaica's 4x100m relay team, which also set a new world record.

Bolt and Russia's pole-vault queen Yelena Isinbayeva were confirmed as IAAF athletes of the year for 2008.

Isinbayeva held the Bird's Nest stadium enthralled when she defended her Olympic title with a world record 5.05m. Other athletes to shine were Ethiopian middle-distance stars Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba, who remarkably both won double gold in the men's and women's 5000m and 10,000m events. Kenya's Pamela Jelimo scooped the Golden League million-dollar jackpot, winning all six 800m races over the season.

The 18-year-old Beijing Games champion, the first ever Kenyan woman to win a track and field Olympic gold, recorded a time of 1min 55.16sec in the wet conditions at the Brussels meeting to take the prize.

One of the most dramatic scenes in Beijing was the pull-out through injury of home star Liu Xiang, the defending Olympic 110m hurdles champion. Liu took his place on the blocks for an early morning heat but after a false start, slowly limped off the track, head bowed, to the stunned silence of the crowd.

Turning to the darker side of athletics, disgraced former 100m world record holder Tim Montgomery admitted to doping before the 2000 Sydney Olympics, saying he did not deserve his 4x100m relay gold medal. The admission could prompt the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to strip gold from the US 4x100m relay, which also included Maurice Greene, Jon Drummond, Bernard Williams, Brian Lewis and Kenneth Brokenburr.

Elsewhere, Greece's former 400m hurdles Olympic champion Fani Halkia was handed a two-year ban for her positive dope test at the Beijing Games. The IAAF also banned seven high-profile Russian woman athletes caught switching urine samples in drug tests in 2007.

Meanwhile, in Beijing's Water Cube American swimmer Michael Phelps emerged from the Olympic pool dripping with gold and glory, his eight victories setting a new standard for swimming supremacy in 2008. It was a feat many believed couldn't be done, and Phelps did it in emphatic style.

Seven of Phelps's eight golds were won in world-record time. The only exception was the 100m butterfly, won in a personal best of 50.58sec that was a breathtaking one one-hundredth of a second in front of Serbian Milorad Cavic.

The American also scaled the summit of Olympic achievement, matching and then surging past the record nine career gold medals of Games icons Spitz, Paavo Nurmi, Carl Lewis and Larysa Latynina. But it remains to be seen if Phelps's larger dream, of permanently redrawing the sports landscape to give swimming a prominent place in the foreground, will be realised.

At the age of 23, Phelps has set a record for the total number of medals won by a male Olympian with 16, including the six gold and two bronze he won in Athens in 2004.

The men's 100m freestyle world record fell three times at the Games as Australian Eamon Sullivan and France's Alain Bernard battled for sprint supremacy -- Sullivan emerging with the world record but Bernard capturing the all-important gold that denied Dutch great Pieter van den Hoogenband an unprecedented third straight Olympic title in the prestigious event.

Rebecca Adlington, 19, became the first British woman since 1960 to capture Olympic swimming gold with a razor-thin victory over American Katie Hoff in the 400m free -- then smashed the oldest record in swimming's books with a convincing triumph in the 800m freestyle.

Stephanie Rice won three golds with three world records, her 200m and 400m individual medley double and share in Australia's 4x200m freestyle relay triumph accounting for half of Australia's six gold -- all won by women.

US men's swimming coach Eddie Reese called the Beijing Games "the fastest, deepest, most incredible Olympics there has ever been."

Elsewhere in Formula One there were 18 races made up of 1,118 laps and 5,500km, but Lewis Hamilton's Formula One destiny was decided at the last bend and over the final 500-metre stretch of the season's concluding race.

On an unforgettable last lap of the Brazilian Grand Prix, the 23-year-old

McLaren driver stormed into the record books as the youngest champion in the history of the sport and its first black winner.

But it didn't take long for the champagne to start tasting distinctly flat. Just weeks after Hamilton's win, the global economic meltdown led to the shock withdrawal of Honda -- and its reported 400 million dollar budget -- from the grid.

From 2009, and with the aim of slicing a third off team costs, engine life will be doubled, revs reduced while in-season testing (except at race weekends) will be stopped. In 2010, refuelling will be banned while standard engines, costing around 6.5 million dollars a season, are set to be introduced.

Before the financial storm struck, however, there was hurricane Hamilton. But success hasn't come without its problems. Before the season started, Hamilton was subject to vicious racist taunts in Barcelona. He then fell out with brooding rivals who criticised his technique and judgement.

The Briton, now a multi-millionaire and a tax exile, shrugged it off, confirming his place amongst the glitterati with a world title on his CV and a Pussycat Doll girlfriend on his arm.

In other sports, cycling's biggest story in 2008 came from someone who hadn't pushed a pedal in a single big race, and the news of Lance Armstrong's comeback is proof of his unequaled stature and the troubled state of the sport.

So much for Carlos Sastre winning the Tour de France, or Chris Hoy getting three golds at the Olympics, the only rider big enough to compete with Armstrong's news was Alberto Contador, but the organisers of the Tour de France decided to keep the defending champion out of the sport's biggest event because his Astana team was linked to doping scandals the previous year. Still, Contador showed off his talents by winning both the Giro d'Italia and the Spanish Vuelta. In a sense, cycling should be relieved that the 37-year-old Armstrong whipped up an early September storm by announcing his return after a three-year retirement. Otherwise, another list of high-profile doping scandals would again dominate all else.

In the Tour alone, four stages were won by dope cheats, and mountain champion and third-place finisher Bernard Kohl of Austria was also caught with this year's drug of choice: The endurance-enhancer CERA.

After four years of fighting each other, the organisers of the Tour and the International Cycling Union finally saw eye-to-eye, agreeing on a compromise deal to end feuding over the control of the sport.

At the Olympics, cycling was a huge success. It had the fans, the storybook location around the Great Wall of China and, on the track, also the champion to match. Hoy won a perfect three sprint gold medals out of three. Of course, at the end, the Briton was asked if that could lead to suspicions of doping.

Meanwhile, in the worlds favourite sport -- football -- Spaniards ended the year as the No 1 team in the FIFA rankings with Brazil and Argentina down in fifth and sixth place and France not even in the top 10, followed their Euro 2008 triumph with four straight World Cup qualifying victories to put themselves almost halfway toward reaching the 2010 tournament in South Africa.

Maradona made headlines again -- this time, not for drug abuse, obesity or ailing health. Like five-time World Cup winner Brazil, Argentina could not keep up with runaway leader Paraguay in qualifying and that led to the end for Alfio Basile. Struggling to get the best out of its talented lineup, Argentina sent for its greatest ever player, Maradona.

The most popular name in world football David Beckham had to join AC Milan to keep in contention for the England squad. Ronaldinho found himself unwanted by Barcelona and Brazil but, after joining Milan in July and playing at the Olympics, started scoring regularly for his new club.

Defending champion Egypt beat Cameroon 1-0 in the final to win its sixth African Cup of Nations title in Ghana. The other big story in the region was South Africa's race to get venues, transport and infrastructure in place for the 2010 World Cup. FIFA insisted there was no 'Plan B'.

Manchester United ended one of the greatest years in clubs history with a double -- Champions League title and English Premier League title.

Giggs' goal at Wigan which confirmed the Premier League title for Manchester United was the prelude to an even more dramatic Champions League final penalty shoot-out win against Chelsea in Moscow 10 days later that capped one of United's greatest seasons. Manchester won the Premier League by a thin margin of two points above runner-up Chelsea.

Asia continued to attract top-shelf sporting events and big-name stars this year, with more of the same expected in 2009 as sponsors and marketers exploit opportunities in the huge continent.

Primarily, 2008 will be remembered for the Beijing Olympics, which was massively successful and set the benchmark for sporting events globally. Aside from that, the key landmark was Singapore's hosting of Formula One's first-ever night race, around the city-state's streets.

It was a year with plenty to keep fans happy, although the exploits of Asians on the world stage was muted. The Olympics in August showed that China can successfully host the biggest event of all. Few thought it would be any different with the giant communist country pulling out all the stops to ensure it was roundly praised.

While its hosting capabilities were admirable, China also showed it boosts some of the best sportspeople on Earth, topping the medals table ahead of the United States for the first time.

Tiny Singapore revelled in its moment in the spotlight when it hosted a Grand Prix for the first time in September, winning lavish praise for a race won by Spain's Fernando Alonso. Commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone went as far as calling it the new jewel in the sport's crown, while team owners said it would be a hard act to follow. Australia, Malaysia, China, and Japan all hosted races again, with South Korea coming on board on 2010 and New Delhi in 2011.

The movers and shakers of equally money-rich golf also fixed their radar on Asia once again with no fewer than nine European co-sanctioned events in 2008 as the Asian Tour enjoyed another season of stellar growth.

Some of the biggest names in the game made the trip with the likes of world number two Sergio Garcia and world number three Phil Mickelson vowing to return as tournaments such as the Singapore Open and HSBC Champions get bigger and better.

Tennis too has its eyes firmly fixed on Asia with the WTA/ATP China Open becoming one of the top four ëSuper Tournaments' from 2009.

The WTA held 13 tournaments in the Asia-Pacific this year and the ATP 10, with the highlight again being the Australian Open, where Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova triumphed.

Asian fans had a taste of English Premier League football with Chelsea choosing the region for its pre-season tour, unveiling new manager Luiz Felipe Scolari for the first time.

This year was also the inaugural year of Asian Beach Games, hosted by Bali, indonesia.

It is that time in international cricket that we have been waiting for the last several years. Yes, after years of bearing with the sole 'superpower', at last, the game of cricket is breathing some gasps of competitiveness.

We have witnessed some memorable batting exhibitions in the last week or so that defied the norms of the game and welcome sanity on the international cricket scene.

India defeated England by chasing a monstrous 387, South Africa went on to hunt down the second highest run-chase of 414 in the history of the game. You can name several factors that could have played the part like placid tracks, fatigued bowling standards or quick run-making patterns but the good part which we all should cherish is the fact that we cannot predict about anything in the game now.

There are no foregone conclusions, well-accepted myths or demigods in the game that can make cricket disinteresting and predictable. Lack of predictability in the pattern of results can revive Test cricket and make it more appealing for audiences all over the world.

Cricket pundits opine that the new emerging cricketing powers on the horizon are India and South Africa and it will be between the two to decide the leading team in the game after the nosedive decline of the Aussie might.

But fortunately these two teams are not in the best shape to wield control over international rankings like the Australians did during their prime. We can say that with the bit of certainty, because the Indians looked utterly out of sorts to the extent of mediocrity against the Sri Lankans a few months back when they had no clue where they went wrong.

The 'Fab-Four' comprising VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly looked like a declining force against Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan. Fingers were pointed at the once considered the most formidable and consistent batting force and we saw there were apparent cracks. Where the Sri Lankan spinners created havoc, the likes of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh looked pedestrian.

So there are chinks in the armour and we don't know when they will show their ugly faces once again whenever the Indians step on foreign soil again. They are on a roll at the moment but we all know being a sub-continental sporting power they tend to take some dips at the hands of complacency and poster-boy images.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Ishant Sharma and Gautam Gambhir are writing a glorious script together at the moment but nobody knows when their larger than life super-heroes, can-do-no-wrong images come and bite them and we witness the vulnerable Indian psyche again.

Similarly, the South Africans managed to chase down a humongous 414 on the fifth day pitch for the loss of four wickets only after conceding a huge first-innings lead.

But is there a permanence about this Proteas performance or not? They have been successful in the past few months and getting over their too many age-old jinxes but they are not the kind of all-round outfit like the mighty West Indies of the 1980s or the Aussie juggernaut of the late 1990s that ruled the reins for a longer period of time.

Bowling resources at their disposal are far from being a varied attack that can suit all conditions in the absence of good spin options. Their inefficaciousness are not only limited to their bowling resources. The way Mitchell Johnson's one spell in the recent Perth Test set the cat among the pigeons was a sight to be seen for South African cricket well-wishers when their top and lower batting crumbled like a pack of cards.

They are determined, ready-for-fight kind of cricket unit but do not possess the kind of exploding talent and mettle that can send the shivers down the spine of other teams. Talent that can set a fear of the unseen and unknown in the hearts of opponents as we still feel from the Australia team even after they are not the same side what they were a couple of years back.

It is the time of great merriment. Sole super-powers are not good for anyone whether it is sports or politics. Balance of power keeps everybody on its toes. It emanates the sense of competitiveness that is good for the game and ultimately the audiences. This sudden change in the mood of international cricket makes the future prospects somewhat very rosy.

In the next few months, India will be in New Zealand, Sri Lanka in Pakistan, and Australia in South Africa and then in England for the Ashes and a good part about these tours is that you cannot make too many predictions right now.

You do not know what India will dish out in New Zealand where their past batting experiences are enough to make them screech in slumber.

Similarly, after going through all this embarrassing run of defeats Australia will definitely find it tough against a spirited English side in the Ashes.

Pakistan may have missed some precious Tests last year or so but you cannot count the cricket-starved nation off against the balanced Islanders when they visit Pakistan in January, filling in for the Indians. So things are building up nicely for a good cricket feast in the next few months when there are several candidates for the throne at the moment.

There is no one supreme power to run the affairs and this is how it should be at the top level for maintaining interest and appeal of any game. Out and out winners bring monotony and monotony kills off excitement that we usually attach with sporting events. Welcome to the more competitive international cricket scene.

Pakistan remained unlucky in many ways during the year 2008 which is going to end in a couple of days' time. The 61-year-old Pakistan suffered brutal blows from both inside and outside during this tragic year. There was hardly a day or week when there was no bomb blast or suicide attack somewhere in the country.

Pakistan's hard luck was not restricted only to bloodshed and domestic unrest. During the highly unimpressive year, Pakistan not only remained at the lowest ebb performance wise in almost all games, all its stadia also presented a deserted look throughout the year due to the 'boycott' from almost all notable foreign teams.

No major team bothered to tour Pakistan for hockey, cricket and even cycling events in 2008 owing to security problems. Pakistan had several high-profile postponements and cancellations this year including the tours of Australia, India and the elite Champions Trophy.

Interestingly, almost every touring team offered same excuse and issued identical statements after cancelling or postponing their tours. Pakistan only managed to host the six-nation Asia Cup and ODI series against minnows Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

It is to be noted here that the refusals from neighbouring India, South Africa and West Indies were quite disappointing because these teams have played Test and ODI cricket in Pakistan in the recent past without any untoward incident. But strangely they declined to tour Pakistan for the Champions Trophy and their scheduled bilateral events.

Pakistan's cruel misfortune in 2008 can be gauged from the fact that they could not get any amount of top level cricket even outside Pakistan. Pakistan made a couple of attempts to arrange ODI tournaments in South Africa and Sri Lanka in September but could not convince the sponsors and the required participants as well.

PCB also did its best to stage a brief Test rubber against West Indies at Abu Dhabi after the three-match bilateral ODI series to give its players a taste of Test cricket but in vain. This time, the Caribbean Board and players showed a lack of interest in Test matches against Pakistan citing a shortage of time.

Pakistan suffered the first shock in the very first week of the year 2008 when ICC switched the Women's Cricket World Cup qualifiers from Lahore to South Africa. The qualifiers, which were to be played originally in November in Pakistan, were shifted to South Africa due to political turmoil in Pakistan. Later, South Africa hosted the qualifying event in mid-February when Pakistan women cricket team qualified for the World Cup 2009. It is pertinent to mention here that the national women team's qualification for the World Cup was one of the few heartening news for the otherwise dejected Pakistan. Then in March, Australia turned their back towards Pakistan and announced that they can not go ahead with their scheduled tour of Pakistan due to security concerns.

The Australian cricket team, which last toured Pakistan in 1997-98 under Mark Taylor, have postponed their visit until March 2009, when they will play five ODIs before returning for a three-Test series in 2010.

In August, Pakistan suffered the biggest blow when the elite Champions Trophy was postponed until October 2009 after five of the eight participating nations confirmed during a teleconference that they would not send their teams for the event due to security concerns.

South Africa led the group of teams -- Australia, England, New Zealand and West Indies, who refused to play in Pakistan. The elite tournament was originally scheduled to be held from September 12-28 at Karachi and Lahore. Though ICC announced a window for the tournament in 2009 with Pakistan first choice as hosts frankly there is no guarantee that Pakistan will be able to host the event even in 2009 due to the so-called security excuses and tight international schedule.

After the Champions Trophy postponement, the West Indies women's tour of Pakistan was also called off in October because of the same reason. The series had been scheduled from October 14-31 with the teams scheduled to play five one-dayers and three Twenty20s. Remember, Pakistan has not hosted a women's ODI since the Asia Cup in 2005-06. It may be recalled here that Pakistan women's team are scheduled to play two world events next year -- the Women's World Cup in Australia in March and the Twenty20 World Championship in England in June. And the Pakistan girls were desperately looking for some international exposure before those events.

After women, now it was West Indies men's team's turn to disappoint Pakistan. Pakistan Cricket Board's efforts to arrange a home Test series were dealt a blow when the West Indies opted not to tour Pakistan in November because of security concerns.

Apart from cricket, Pakistan also suffered humiliation in hockey when all was set to receive the Indian Junior hockey team at Wagha Border in early November but the guest team did not arrive as their authorities refused to clear their team in a highly unprofessional manner to travel to Pakistan.

Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) officials and a large number of mediamen were present at Wagha border when they were told after several hours wait that the tour had been cancelled.

Pakistan was set to stage the five-match series at various parts of the country from November 11 to 21. The postponement cost PHF around five million rupees which it spent on making various stadiums and lights ready for the matches besides the renovation work.

Remember, Pakistan and India had agreed to play a bilateral hockey series in a bid to prepare their teams for the Junior World Cup to be played in Singapore and Malaysia in June next.

In November, the Tour de Pakistan International Cycle Race received a jolt when cyclists from Nigeria and Bangladesh did not arrive due to security concerns.

However, a nine-member Sri Lanka team and Afghanistan were the two foreign teams, who featured in the 1655km race.

The stance of Nigeria and Bangladesh was no doubt another major blow to the already struggling sports in the country.

In December India also called off their Test and ODI tour to Pakistan of early 2009 following the recent Mumbai attacks and strained relations between the two arch-rivals.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was told by the Indian government not to proceed with the tour taking into account the recent developments in Mumbai. However, Sri Lanka's timely offer for a full tour kept Pakistan's hopes alive for having some top level cricket in the beginning of the New Year. After spending a sports-less 2008, the threats of another empty year are hovering around Pakistan.

In this regard, Pakistan has already been deprived of hosting the Davis Cup Asia Oceania Group-II tie against Oman in March 2009. The elite event has been shifted from Lahore because of security worries. The Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) received this shocking news in mid-December. Pakistan was scheduled to host Oman in the opening round match on grass in Lahore from March 6-8. The tie will now take place in Oman on the same dates.

It may be recalled here that the PTF had organised eight world-ranking events during the last five months. Not only this but there were 16 Indian girls playing here at the time of the Mumbai attacks.

India has refused to tour Pakistan. India's tour was significantly jeopardised after a ghastly three days of terror in Mumbai that eventually severed the already thin-wired relationship between the two countries. It's simply despicable. BCCI has timorously conveyed that the government of India had stopped the team to travel to Pakistan amidst the escalating tension regarding the country's alleged role in fostering terrorism.

India's decision to abandon the tour was a slap to people like Dr Nasim Ashraf who during his tenure tried untiringly to play second fiddle to the BCCI going to the extent of power-brokering for the multi-million dollar Indian Premier League (IPL), also insolently discouraging and banning the players defecting to the Indian Cricket League (ICL).

This decision was always questionable as it clearly showed that the PCB were doing it all on purpose regardless of considering, even for a minute, Pakistan's own interest. BCCI exploited everyone around and tapped all the possible resources and opportunities to make the IPL a real stir in world cricket. It exactly happened like that.

Just to show solidarity and picturing the Asian bloc as one of the strongest around, they submissively requested Australia to tour Pakistan; the series was cancelled and BCCI regressed into backwaters leaving Pakistan completely unattended. And then was the shambles. Mohammad Asif, the leading fast medium bowler, was subjected to dope-sampling with the facilities being questionable. PCB continued supporting India. Why is that we resorted to meekly outlook and ending up cutting a sorry figure?

One must stand up and realistically analyse the situation; we haven't been having our house in order; it's true and we haven't been taking the ICC standing; we should have been doing this for a while. Pakistan is a major force in cricket and regardless of the upheavals the world just can't think of isolating us, reducing us to the ranks of Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and the West Indies.

And why is that the world cricketers from Australia, England and even South Africa heartily travel to India despite a sequence of terrorist attacks and explosions, be it in Mohali or Mumbai? It's just about India being a great financial market and money talks while bullshit runs the marathon. And one must most conveniently say that there has been a geopolitical bias and also the world money knows every language except Urdu.

Time has come that we should try resolving our problems. First and foremost, Mr Ijaz Butt should take a major decision lifting the ban and allowing Pakistan players from the ICL to resume their international and domestic careers; this would at least show our revulsion to BCCI's decision to cancel their tour to Pakistan. Mr Butt needs to formulate one of the first and the most appropriate approaches acting in such a way that his actions become a universal law to follow.

His predecessor's approach was superficial and fundamentally self-contradictory. He now needs to discuss different solutions amidst the mounting pressure from people like Rashid Latif and Inzamam-ul-Haq, both ex-Pakistan Test captains. Regrettably banning the players defecting to the ICL was never rationally analysed.

In my opinion and I think I have all claims to opining on Pakistan cricket being a keen student since 1975, neither a society, nor a state or an organisation can exist without laws; if there is no law, there is no society, state or an organisation. Therefore enforcement of the codes of discipline and law, which is the society or an organisation's foundation, means protection of the rights of an individual, individuals, society and the state. Thus, any person violating the law loses the right to be a society member, opposes social order and consequently must be deemed guilty and punished.

The right to administer punishment is the right of a ruler to make violators suffer. It is impossible to punish the ruler himself since the authority to administer punishment belongs to him. A ruler can retire or shown the doors due to his failures but cannot be punished; there is a contradiction in itself.

We understand that crime is a violation of social laws i.e. it is committed against the society or an organisation and therefore subject to punishment. People who observe the society or organisation's laws are the society members, while people who commit crimes lose the right to be the society or organisational members and must be punished; true. Now is the question whether players defecting to the ICL were real sinners or were they harming their parent organisation, the Pakistan Cricket Board.

Violation of law can be a personal or a social crime; were these players violating any law; was there a 'Defection Law' to begin with? Such breaches must be reviewed justly and neutrally. Was theirs a personal crime or a coinage offence, treachery, rebellion or an act of treason? Then why did we make a hash of things? If Sri Lanka could soften its stance keeping in view its needs and the international demands then why were we trying to become more loyal than the king? An action cannot be considered criminal or unlawful if there is no crime there must be no punishment.

Punishment of innocent people is a result of a worthless legislation; this means that the system is unable to establish guilt and make a differentiation between innocent people and the law-breakers. No one has a right to do so, even the state, because this kind of approach would imply the possibility of punishing an innocent person to prevent him from committing a crime. Even more so, this approach would not require punishment of criminals, because the basis for punishment would not crime but benefit. The punishment concept would lose its meaning if a crime did not serve as a basis for punishment. In this case the punishment would be groundless and nothing else but a denial of justice.

The PCB must take a rational view and lift the ban allowing people like Imran Nazir, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Shahid Yousuf, Mohammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq, Imran Farhat and Mohammad Sami to restart their international careers; it would not only help these cricketers to lift their standards but it would also give Pakistan team a work-space to handpick horses for the courses. Why should we imperil our cricketing future trying to serve BCCI's interests in the IPL? Mr Butt, in this regard, needs to put his foot down.

Enough; we have had a rollercoaster ride almost throughout; one chairman after another all dug their heads deep in the sand trying to submit to the ICC's mindset instead of standing in adversity chin-up, seeking the rightful. The players and employees of the PCB and general public burn with anger and indignation over its failure to protect theirs and country's cricketing rights; in these charged and emotional times, lines have blurred.

With India regretting to tour the PCB was effectively besieged. Now, it's time to give the rejoinder.

Lifting the ban and allowing the ICL players to return to international cricket could just be an effective gesticulation; no finger-pointing is required, what the PCB needs to do is to start carving opportunities taking its problems to the ICC and hard-pressing them taking measures to give Pakistan a proper foothold. India has decided against touring Pakistan on the pretext of its alleged involvement in the Mumbai terrorist attacks, it's another matter that the Indian government itself stands indicted.

Politically and socially, India's call to interrupt the scheduled tour isn't far from ridiculousness. The Indian team should have stood by Pakistan cricket, one of the integral partners in the ACC. There were reports that some of the players didn't actually want to tour, and it would really be interesting if they would still be living in Mumbai.They had the same fears as England's cricketers did; and on one end their captain Mahendra Singh Dohni was requesting England to continue the series and on the other he has seen his folks backing out of the tour to Pakistan. Contradiction? Double standards! It seems to be a slender, nebulous, skewed and a subjective line.

It was indeed regretful that the BCCI let the decision taken out of its hands. It faced a weird impasse in addressing the concerns of its own players while trying to persuade the others to tour India. Pakistan's present face is uncertain and it was likely to be doomed had Arjuna Ranatunga not extended the helping hand to give PCB a temporary reprieve. Nevertheless, there are big questions exploding from the recent developments about the future of world events, prime amongst them the already deferred Champions Trophy, and 2011's World Cup, jointly to be held in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

BCCI should have realised that beyond all this lay the role of cricket as a bridge between the two countries. It is overpowering to think that India's tour to Pakistan in 2003-04 almost didn't take place. Like now, the players didn't want to tour. Even so, the BCCI took a prudent decision and the series turned out to be epochal.

Of course, a lot is down to perceptions and discernment. India, a gigantic and pulsating democracy founded on Western liberalism, and an up-and-coming economic Goliath, presents a representation of solidity and potency despite its problems. Whereas Pakistan, which has staggered between dysfunctional democracy and army-backed dictatorship, and has quite unnecessarily acquired a reputation as a breeding ground of militancy, has always felt more hazardous to the West.

Also, India underpins the global cricket economy. The cessation of the Twenty20 Champions League unswervingly affected the finances of many cricket boards, and the IPL has shown the players the kind of instant fortune that would have been beyond their dreams a year ago. Just like the American economy, the Indian cricket involves all cricket nations. The global recession extended from the subprime crisis in America.

Everyone wants to be past the worst and the wariness; the fretfulness to keep Indian cricket strong is born, at least partially, of the natural impulse for self-conservation. It is indigestible but explicable.

The bottom line is this: Cricket and cricketers stand facing some tough alternatives. There are no complete pledges and guarantees. The menace is part of the job now, just as it is for businessmen, journalists, politicians or aid workers. For the line of reasoning that cricketers are high profile and more vulnerable, there is the counter claim that they take delivery of a much higher degree of protection than most others. The rewards of being an international cricketer are massive. Players must be prepared to recognise the perils and hazards that come with it. It's just the question of timing.

India reclaim second place in ranking with win over England

India reclaimed second place from South Africa in the ICC Test ranking after beating England in the home Test series by 1-0 earlier this week. India won the first Test in Chennai by six wickets while the second Test at Mohali ended without producing a result.

The Test series result could have been 1-0 in favour of England, but the visitors failed to defend a massive total of 387. Lack of quality bowling specially spinners failed to deliver as expected on the fifth day.

Under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian cricket team's performance has improved series by series. Under his captaincy India won the first Twenty20 World Cup, the triangular ODI series in Australia for the first time, the one-day home series against Pakistan and the ODI series in Sri Lanka and, in the two Tests against world champions Australia, he led the Indian side in the absence of Anil Kumble. Dhoni said the Chennai win was the toughest of his short tenure as skipper.

India coach Gary Kirsten is confident that it's a beginning towards gaining the number one position in the world of Test cricket. He thinks that his boys are capable of anything and they have proved that first against Australia and now against England especially in the first Test with a record run chase.

India's attaining a total of 387 in Chennai was the biggest target ever chased in India. The previous highest successful chase recorded was by West Indies with 276 runs in 1987. It was only the fifth occasion of a successful chase of more than 200 runs in India.

The top four run chases in Test history are the 418-7 by the West Indies against Australia in 2003, 414-4 by South Africa against Australia in 2008, 406-4 by India against the West Indies in 1976 and 404-3 by Australia against England in 1948.

Overall, in around 1900 Tests that have been played so far, only 25 times have teams have chased in excess of 300 runs to win, and two of those chases happened within the last couple of months.

India opener Gautam Gambhir was the star of the Test series. He finished with 1,134 runs in eight Tests he played in 2008, during which he scored three centuries and half-centuries each. His best score 206 came against world champions Australia in the Delhi Test in October. Gambhir was the fourth Indian to pass 1,000 runs in 2008 after Sachin Tendulkar, Venkatsai Laxman and Virender Sehwag.

Gambhir fell short of a century in the second innings of the second Test at Mohali and missed becoming the fourth Indian batsman to score a hundred in either innings. Gambhir's 276 runs in the second Test was the highest score by an Indian batsman in a Test against England, the previous highest was 257 by Vinoo Mankad at Lord's in 1952.

Little Master Sachin Tendulkar contributed at a very crucial stage and erased the stigma that he doesn't contribute at crunch times especially in a run-chase. Tendulkar with his unbeaten 41st century shared a 163 runs match-winning partnership with Yuvraj Singh and took India home to a historic win.

After being beaten comprehensively in the ODI series and returning for the Tests with the stress of security concerns, England performed at a standard more than expectated till the Indian second innings. On the final day, the visitors failed to control their grip against the Indian batting powerhouse.

Bowlers failed to break the long partnerships. Monty Panesar, the most experienced English spinner, failed to overcome the Indian batsmen. He took only six wickets at an average of over 50. But that's no fault of Monty's, no spinner including Shane Warne and Muralitharan has conquered the Indian batting particularly in India. No doubt Indian batsmen have always played spinners better than others.

Gautam Gambhir was the highest scorer of the Test series with 361 runs at an average of 90.25 including one hundred and two fifties. Andrew Strauss was the most successful batsman from England with 252 runs with the help of two centuries at an average of 84.

Yuvraj Singh, who was included in the Test squad after the retirement of Sourav Ganguly, justified his selection and continued his prime form and became the second highest scorer of the Test series from India with 212 runs at an average of over 70.

'The Wall' Rahul Dravid, saved face after scoring a hundred in the first innings of the second Test. Otherwise he scored only seven runs in three innings.

On the bowling side Man of the series Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and Graeme Swann took eight wickets each at an average of 21.0, 35.0 and 39.5, respectively.

David Morgan has been reported as having made two comments on cricket in the sub continent which need to be take note of; Pakistan is another country. Terrorism and security in India is different! This may lead the cynic to conclude that for Mr Morgan the dangers from terrorism are inversely proportional to the financial powers of the cricket board where such terrorism occurs.

The second remark that may be double edged in its meaning is about the World Cup. In this case the PCB should not be misled into believing that the comments are in any way dependant on what is considered security in Pakistan. It is apparent that different standards of security are applied by visiting occidental cricket teams and the ICC.

Can we even imagine such a robust approach would have been taken to come back to play in Pakistan or indeed Bangladesh under similar circumstances.

One has to note with regret that the government of India has not even stopped short of using cricket in its political machinations. Let one be absolutely clear about the fact that all terrorism is criminal. Should Pakistan itself not be the major sufferer from terrorism, suicide bombings and other such criminal activities, and should the terrorists only live in Pakistan to conduct such activities outside Pakistan, one could understand the line adopted by India.

Should one be able to believe the amazing story of just ten foreigners with no local assistance being able to conduct such an attack without significant local help one could again sympathise with the Indian approach? The facts do not support the line adopted by our neighbors.

I have no doubt people from all walks of life especially cricketers, businessmen, average man in the street, et al, have communicated their horror at these events and condole with persons who have suffered the loss of their loved ones and the damage to property.

The Indian approach regrettably appears to 'fight' Pakistan and not terrorism. The approach of the England team whatever their motives must represent the right way to fight the evils of rightist fundamentalism that threatens all of us. Should the government of India have only been worried about terrorism they would not have banned their cricket team from playing cricket against Pakistan.

They had the option of neutral venues or even better to playing this series in India, I am sure that the Pakistani cricketers would have been readily available for this option. I believe the cricket loving audiences of central, south and east India as indeed East Punjab would have welcomed the idea of the series carrying on regardless. They are a very sporting and knowledgeable audience and would have welcomed the opportunity of watching great cricket especially with their team on such a match winning streak.

It is wonderful to see the reports of domestic cricket matches being currently played. It is not so wonderful to see the quality of television production and to listen to the commentary on these matches. A great opportunity of creating the correct hype is being frittered away. I sincerely hope that the cricket public at large was able to relate to these teams and develop a sense of ownership. I was not able to do so. This is a very important emotion if we are to develop a strong sense of competition between the teams.As can be learnt from the Stanford sponsored event, money alone does not turn a match into a needle competition. Consider for a moment the Ashes, or India v Pakistan and increasingly Australia v South Africa, the very idea makes for high competition making the involvement of the entire population of the respective countries a given fact.

The PCB has been in the wars, in that, they have had to continuously react to official and press reports emanating from India about the tour. One cannot help feeling that the economic side of the series was playing a major part in their response make up. It is obvious that the tour was financially important but a certain amount of self control would have been welcome.

The general impression is that we went more than an extra mile to try and cajole a tour out of the Indian Board. Considering the fact that we had bent over backwards to support the BCCI's attempts to create a monopoly in twenty20 cricket in India, that we are partners in the ACC and in the forthcoming World Cup and finally that the PCB should have good friends in the BCCI, we could have got timely advise that there was no chance for the tour and thus prevented us from appearing to almost plead for the event.

The PCB should review their approach towards our players who have participated in the ICL. Let it be clearly understood that a country's policies should be guided by self interest. We should learn from our past that believing 'they will behave like friends' is never a permanent situation. We have some of our best talent being illegally and uselessly wasted by the doubtful policy of banning our Cricketers who participated in the ICL.

Bravo to the Sri Lankan Cricket Board and the Sri Lankan cricketers, Pakistan should salute them and the public should do the same by attending all the Test matches in numbers to show their appreciation. Their approach shows clearly that they truly believe in the fight against terrorism. Having suffered themselves from this disease they appreciate what afflicts Pakistan and are willing to participate in the cure. Their actions also bravely exhibit their desire to keep politics away from cricket.

The PCB has not made any of its plans for the future plans public enough to be easily studied. One can only hope that the new constitution will revert to the old constitution with limited improvements made democratically. One can only hope that the PCB will become a democratic organisation; if it's good for Pakistan it is surely good for the PCB.

One can only hope that we will have a clear mind as to what are the grass roots of cricket in Pakistan; the clubs in the provinces, districts, cities, villages etc. One can only hope that the departments will be cajoled and convinced to once again become a very valued and important part of domestic cricket. One can only hope that our domestic tournaments will return to the tried and tested formats to give all our leading players and teams the kind of competition that used to produce the talent which had almost become the norm.

Finally it is hoped that the PCB will clarify what is the correct amount that we were to receive from our television rights contract with Ten Sports. One can only hope that it is US$140.5 million dollars as stated by the Chairman PCB and not "nearly double of what we earned last time" as was also credited to the PCB by the press.