Pakistan cricket in my view can be defined by two very simple terms passionate and inconsistent. The boys in green have in the past won great laurels under the leadership of captains like Imran Khan and have proved to the world their mettle when it comes to providing the right combination when required most. However, after Imran’s departure in 1992, even though the team had emphatic wins against England and New Zealand, they could not find the magic shown with him as captain in the World Cup. None of this was more evident then in the 1999 World Cup final with Australia, where the entire team fell for a demoralizing 132 in 39 overs. Amina Begum, a 62 year old grandmother from Lahore, condemned the team, accusing them of taking bribes. "We should go to the airport and greet them with eggs and tomatoes," she said. She ripped her colorful bangles from her arm and said "I will give them my bangles. They are not men, they played like women." (C.N.N.S.I) . After this debacle and 2001 onwards the team fell into a quagmire of shock decisions and ever more shocking changes. Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis; perhaps two of the greatest fast bowlers the world has ever seen and masters of swing, faded away as the cricket board went on its merry way of chopping and changing. Captains were appointed for a series, coaches for even less time and in the end cricket in this great nation suffered

Allegations of match fixing flowing like water from the press, fans and some former cricketers alike, forced the board to change the captaincy and appoint first Moin Khan and then Rashid Latif the wicket keeper extraordinaire as new captain. This too proved another miscalculation and after Rashid Latif was banned for 5 matches by Match referee Mike Procter for having claimed an unfair catch against minnows Bangladesh on the third day of the third test in September 2003, the whole country heaved a collective sigh as the burly Inzamam Al Haq was appointed the new captain in his place. With a disposition like a block of ice this seemingly comical captain toiled on as the Pakistan team reeled from one series to the next, ever proving their lack of stability as a unit.

Finally good sense prevailed and the all powerful General recognised the need for diplomacy in the ranks and appointed Shahreyar Khan, a career diplomat, as its new chairman on December 9th 2003,. Khan tried to resolve the various personal and political differences among the team, but finally gave up and sacked Javed Miandad, a brilliant batsmen and not so brilliant coach after the humiliating home series defeat to India in June 2004. He appointed Bob Woolmer the former coach of Warwickshire and South Africa as new coach of the by now bewildered Pakistan Team. After his appointment Woolmer was cautious in his remarks (a must in the sub continent) and went about bringing the team back to the basics, good character leading to good sportsmanship being primary. He installed the sadly lost team spirit by giving precedence to a religious core which binds the team together today not unlike his days with the Proteas.

The first of triumphs to come the team's way happened when they departed to India, where as it is known even the great Australian team goes faint. Pakistan were a weaker team but they in another astonishing phase drew the test series 1-1 after being down 1-0, and won the one day series 4-2 after being down 2-0, a show of grit, determination and fight back which never before was found in this team. The main characters to emerge on the stage from this series were Shahid Afridi, who under Woolmer and Co has proved to be a fearsome match winner, with a method to his madness as well as Younis Khan with his double centuries, coming of age as a batsmen and all this without Shoaib Akhtar, Danish Kaneria materializing as the new Spin god of Pakistan.

Then came the Pakistan England series where the new look Pakistani team perhaps faced its biggest challenge. This was in December 2005, against the Ashes conquering England team who arrived in Pakistan straight after trouncing the Aussies, and were billed as the next # 1 in the world of cricket. England, however, fell prey to over confidence and were reduced to mere spectators as the Speed demon Shoaib Akhter and wily leg spinner Danish Kaneria put on a show for the world to see. Winning the test series 2–0 and the one day series 3-2 Pakistan had now arrived as a dominant force on the world cricketing scene, much to the surprise of pundits and fans alike.

Next to arrive was India with a batting line up the size of Siberia and with its baggage full of the Ganguly/Chappell controversy, they were greeted in the test series by two matches which were more batting practice than anything else, as both teams piled on world records and then some with mammoth scores, both resulting in futile draws. The Karachi test proved to be a different affair with the wicket retaining its zing until the last day and India falling short by 341 runs to suffer perhaps their most humiliating defeat. The most notable aspect of the Pakistan team was again the fight back shown in the first innings after being brought to their knees by a magnificent opening spell of Irfan Pathan, they were floundering on 39/6 but Kamran Akmal emerged as a match saver, and then later kept superbly all the way to victory.

By now the Pakistan Team were on top of their game or so it seemed, the next series was the one dayers against India in which except for the first one, they showed little interest in any cricket, losing the series 4-1 and again shocking everyone. One really fails to understand how this team goes from the pinnacle of supremacy to the depths of despair in just a few days, the same 11 men possessing so much talent can on their day beat any team but when the chips are down go about their cricketing duties as if in a trance, bumbling simple fielding and catches, throwing away their wickets to no brainers and looking at each other like they have no clue as to what is going on.

After this recent debacle against India the crowds are again chanting for their blood as the Green machine wonders what went wrong, and the familiar columns of head claiming questions are being written: we don't need a foreign coach, we need a fast bowling coach, we need Shoaib back are some of them. What we really need is stability and no team in the world can perform in a stable manner when their fans and country start baying for their blood every time they lose. So what if we lost to India? It is not the end of our world, we need to look beyond it to the next series and then to the World Cup, there are so many young fast bowlers and batsmen queued up to make it to the team, Rao Iftikhar, Faisal Iqbal, to name two, perhaps they can be given a chance in the series against Sri Lanka. The team needs new faces, not necessarily at the expense of old ones but in a strategy of rotation, after all we cannot expect the same people to keep performing day in and day out without any respite.

And the fans, well if the English have invented this game as a gentleman's sport, us Pakistanis have made it a matter of life and death. A contribution to this is made by the lack of other sports in this country, hockey used to be our game and squash, but now we live breathe and eat cricket, one has not seen atmosphere until one strolls through the streets of Karachi or Lahore when a one day match is being played, it is as if nobody wants to work, all the shops and businesses are either half empty or with people there listening to radios or glued to television screens, its quite mad. Almost like how Brazilians feel about football. This in my opinion is the main source of problems

I think it is the fault of the whole country and its fans that its team is so pressurized to win, that the moment they start losing, their heads don’t even lift in the field. It's true that passion drives this sport in the sub continent and more so in Pakistan, but too much passion leads to uncertainty and insecurity within the team. I sincerely believe this is going to be the side which rises to the top in the coming years, just give it a break now and then!