Dropped after scoring tough runs on tough tours, Sami Aslam is back, and in his comeback innings scored a half-century that highlighted both his strengths and his puzzling inability to convert his starts

Despite Yasir Shah bowling a career-high 57 overs in Abu Dhabi's heat and humidity, Pakistan do not regret going into the first Test with only one specialist spinner

This wasn't a madcap dash like his 169-ball 162 in Galle two years ago. It was, instead, a quiet epic, the innings of an extravagantly gifted batsman adapting to leadership

Amid tumult, Dimuth Karunaratne has been Sri Lanka's lynchpin; he is the team's leading Test scorer this year, and fifth in the world

Yasir Shah talks about the drama of the climax of that famous Dominica Test, which sealed Pakistan's first series win in the Caribbean

Pakistan's new captain in all formats wants his team to "remember the good things" his predecessors did, and apply them to his "very young side"

Under Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan rarely wavered in fielding a spin-heavy attack in the UAE. The Test series against Sri Lanka could see a shift in that strategy, leaning towards a greater use of pace

Following the retirements of Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq, a lot of the responsibility of scoring runs up the order falls on Asad Shafiq, who needs to shake off his up-and-down form

Pakistan's coach wants Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq and, to a lesser extent, Babar Azam to take extra responsibility to ease the transition from Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan

After nearly two years of trying, cricket is on the verge of pushing through a new international structure. This is how it will work, in theory

The India-Pakistan impasse is potentially holding hostage cricket's attempts to devise a new international calendar, as the PCB has made it clear it will not sign up without clarity on bilateral matches with India

Sammy told ESPNcricinfo that he had rushed back to the dressing room for a toilet break and brushed away talks of him ignoring the CWI president. Other voices in the World-XI dressing room, though, think otherwise

A series of three T20 games was successfully conducted without safety glitches, but what is next for cricket in Pakistan?

In the event of a Full Member refusing to come, the PCB will examine the possibility of organising further tours by a World XI side over the next two years

ESPNcricinfo's Osman Samiuddin soaks in the atmosphere inside and out of the venue where top-flight cricket returned to Pakistan after eight-and-a-half years

A major chunk of that figure will have been spent on bringing the World XI team to Lahore. It is thought the players are being paid in the region of $100,000 each, and the rest is made up mostly by the logistic costs involved

Two global crowns, the PSL, and a governing body whose earnings have multiplied indicate that cricket in Pakistan has held its own despite the obstacles

He is the man in the World XI squad with most-recent experience of having playing in Pakistan, and he's happy to share his experience of and enthusiasm for the same with his team-mates

Being consistently attuned to a bigger picture of the world beyond the cricket field has led Andy Flower to putting together a diverse and robust World XI squad to tour Pakistan in September

Once the bright young hope of Pakistan batting, he is now no more than an irrelevance