Pakistani Cricket in Crisis

The Australian cricket team will certainly be breathing easier today.

World cricket's worst kept secret was revealed yesterday when Cricket Australia (CA) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) resolved to postpone Australia's scheduled tour to Pakistan this month.

The decision was inevitable, particularly following a recent wave of suicide bombings, which culminated last week in the deaths of five Pakistani naval officers in the major city of Lahore.

The health and safety of the Australian team is obviously paramount, and CA was left with little alternative but to indefinitely postpone the tour. It now faces the difficult task of attempting to squeeze it in later in the calendar, provided the security situation improves.

Ultimately however, for Australia the conclusion was a no-brainer, and it has paved the way for the Australian players to reap their inflated financial rewards in the lucrative Indian Premier League.

But the consequences for their opponents are potentially devastating. As in India, cricket is Pakistan's national sport, and it invokes a parochialism often reserved for political and religious arenas. Depriving these fans of the chance to see their national heroes mix it with the world's best could have the negative effect of turning them away from cricket.

This is just the latest in a string of major setbacks to Pakistan's once-proud national side. Even before the much-publicised and still somewhat suspicious death of Bob Woolmer at the 2007 World Cup was Pakistani cricket in a state of flux.

Former world-class fast bowlers Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis departed without ready-made, reliable replacements, and the retirement of Inzamam-ul-Haq has left Pakistan's batting order looking particularly thin, save for the outstanding Mohammad Yousuf.

The outcome has been a series of middling results, as Pakistan has struggled to match rivals India in their Test and one-day encounters, surrendering sub-continental supremacy to their neighbours. And despite finishing a gallant runner-up to India in last year's Twenty20 World Cup, the team has been primarily unable to recapture the glory days of the 1990s.

Rather, since the departure of such players, on and off-field controversies have instead dominated Pakistani cricket.

In 2006, Pakistan was embroiled in ball-tampering accusations at The Oval whilst playing England. The fallout saw umpire Darrell Hair suspended by the International Cricket Council from officiating international matches, and a four-match ban meted out to then-captain Inzamam.

Later that year, two of Pakistan's most talented fast bowlers Mohammad Sami and Shoaib Akhtar tested positive for the banned substance nandrolone, despite winning their eventual appeals. Then on the eve of the 2007 Twenty20 World Cup, Akhtar again fell foul of Pakistan's authorities, and was sent home from the Twenty20 World Cup after allegedly striking teammate Mohammad Asif with a cricket bat.

These incidents all occurred against a backdrop of relative political stability back in Pakistan. The now-deceased Benazir Bhutto was then in exile, and President Pervez Musharraf had not yet faced the challenges he faces today.

Now however, the PCB faces its biggest challenge yet. It is highly likely that the explosive political machinations taking place at home will affect their on-field performances. The inability to even perform in front of their home fans could potentially even drive future players away from representing their country.

Some current Pakistani cricketers, along with recent retirees such as Inzamam, have already walked away from potential PCB commitments to join the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) Twenty20 competition, despite threats of life-bans from Pakistan's governing body.

The Twenty20 leagues in India are becoming evermore enticing for cricketers, perhaps even more so for Pakistanis, given the nation's close proximity to India coupled with the political and social uncertainty in their homeland.

It would, however, be a stretch to say that Pakistan could go the way of Zimbabwe and disappear into the cricketing wilderness. The infrastructure in place is too strong, and there should always be a steady stream of promising cricketers coming through the ranks, as evidenced just last week when Pakistan reached the semi-finals of the under-20 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia, thumping Australia along the way.

But should the political predicament intensify, Pakistan will be forced to shift future home fixtures to neutral venues, depriving their voracious fans of international cricket, and prospectively further sapping the desire of Pakistani youths from taking up the game.

We can only hope that stability is restored to the strife-torn nation quickly. Otherwise, the PCB may be powerless to stop future opponents from following CA's lead and cancelling tours, further damaging Pakistan's stricken national team.