Pakistan was the best team in Dhaka

There seemed little doubt that Pakistan was the best team in the Asia Cup in Dhaka and for a change handled the pressure of being 'favourite' without either getting complacent or choking. Everything seemed to be in place, the batting clicked, the bowling was disciplined and most of all the fielding came as a very pleasant surprise, so much so that Imran Nazir could have been compared to Jonty Rhodes and not be short-changed by the comparison.

When a team plays as well as Pakistan, everyone should get the credit for cricket is a team game. The team looked happy on the field and their body-language suggested that they were enjoying their cricket, no ordinary achievement given the heat and the humidity which is more than be said of us watching the matches on television given that Karachi is having a heat-wave.

Moin Khan is proving to be a good captain mainly because he sets a high personal example, at the same time he does not want to be the groom at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral. In other words, he does not appear to have an ego-problem. At the awards ceremony, he did not try and hog the limelight and while he could not conceal his obvious joy at winning the Asia Cup, he was suitably modest and generous in his praise of his team. He is getting the best out of his players, none more than Wasim Akram who is bowling as well as he has ever done.

The player of the tournament, undoubtedly, was Yusuf Youhana who has hit a purple patch. With back-to-back centuries in the Test series against the West Indies, Yusuf Youhana just carried on. He looks a pretty cool customer and reads the game well. He has understood the central lesson of batting in both versions of the game and that is to pace one's innings. He looks unhurried, yet seems to keep the scoreboard ticking. He is also concentrating better and does not throw away his wicket as he was inclined to do in the past. He looks a better batsman each time he comes in and with Inzamam in such dazzling form, he brings much needed solidity in the batting. It was an excellent move to bring him one-down and I hope that is going to be his permanent slot.

Imran Nazir didn't make the runs he was expected to and I think he has much to learn about shot selection. He obviously has an excellent eye and feels that he can play spinners from the crease. If he is planning to play any long innings in Sri Lanka, he will have to come to terms with Muralitharan and you can't play him rooted in the crease. But he is young and cricket-smart and I am sure that he will work this out on his own. Abdur Razzaq is fast emerging as one of the world's best allrounders and the over in which he dismissed Azharuddin and Sachin Tendulkar may well have been the turning-point in Pakistan's fortunes in the Asia Cup. All in all, a tremendous performance by Pakistan.

But some of the gloss has been taken away by the news about Shoaib Akhtar. His contract with Nottinghamshire has been cancelled because his rib injury has not healed and he needs prolonged rest. There is also the suggestion that he may have to modify his action because his rib impacts on his pelvis when bowling. Personally, I feel very sorry for him but it should be an eye-opener for Pakistan. Another highly promising fast bowler, Mohammad Zahid was lost to cricket because of a back injury. Patch-work repairs were carried out whereas the need was for the best specialist treatment.

Pakistan must make it a rule of thumb that it will not play any one who is not hundred per cent fit. There is always the real risk of aggravating an injury further. It may seem hindsight but I don't think Shoaib Akhtar should have played in Sharjah, where egged-on by the hype of trying to bowl a hundred miles per hour, he broke down. I am glad that the PCB is going to get a second opinion on his injury but I rather fear that Shoaib will need prolonged rest. He is still young and there should be no hurry and he should be treated by the best, by a specialist rather than a physio.

The 'waters' are being tested through some kite-flying that the England team may not play against Pakistan if Wasim Akram is included in the team. If this kite-flying is officially inspired, then no doubt, whatsoever, should be left in anybody's mind that the prerogative of selecting the Pakistan team rests with the PCB and with no one else. And if it means cancelling the tour, so be it. I discount these reports for the England Cricket Board must know that the days are long gone when it ruled over cricket and could dictate terms. England has not toured Pakistan since 1987 and the loss, one feels, is entirely England's. It isn't as if the England team were a box-office draw, crowd-pullers that would have the fans queuing up to see them play.

I certainly hope that England's tour of Pakistan comes off, not so much for Pakistan's sake but for England's. England has always considered Pakistan to be a "hardship" tour. The "hardship" has been of their own creation. It's not our fault that they have not been able to win and considering that they are not able to win at home either, they can't really blame curried prawns and poor hotel accommodation, as they are inclined to do whenever they tour the sub-continent. Right now they should be concentrating on Curtly Ambrose and Courteny Walsh and not on Wasim Akram. And Brian Lara's timely century could mean that his barren years are over and that will make it a different ball game.