Kamran Abbasi

With injuries and poor form asking fundamental questions about Pakistan's one-day squad for South Africa, the selectors have answered with a vote for thrills--and probably quite a few spills and missed heartbeats.

The recall of Abdul Razzaq was expected. When fit, Razzaq is an ideal one-day player even if his place in the Test team is worth challenging. Shabbir Ahmed's return was inevitable too given Pakistan's injured fast bowlers, but it's hard to see how he can have been unfit last week yet fit now.

"No doctor is better than three," according to a German proverb. The PCB has one at its head, another running its media and communications, and several more on its preposterous medical board of inquiry, which by my calculation is some way beyond three and a firm indication that the health of Pakistan's cricketers must be in a bad way--and it is.

My hypothesis is that Pakistan has the biggest injury problem in international cricket, and I'm sure one of the clever souls who visit this blog will be able to produce the evidence. That's before we begin a debate on the players' education about performance-enhancing drugs and the shambolic monitoring procedure of last year (let's not restart that particular debate here, you can comment on it elsewhere).

International cricket, you will have heard, is played in the mind. Harness your mental powers and you will leap from journeyman to superstar. Lose the mind games and your talent will become dust. Allrounders, though, have an advantage that allows them to fail in one area and star elsewhere. Of course, life is rarely so simple. Once one aspect of your game falls apart and your confidence is ruined, your second skill could easily collapse too. This might have been the case with Kamran Akmal but today's innings will be just the boost he needs to help him recover his form behind the stumps.

Far be it for me to criticise somebody called Kamran, but Akmal's performances had become something of an embarrassment, a vicious circle of failure. There were even calls for him to be dumped for the final Test. But such a panic reaction should now be impossible.

Akmal is a smart cricketer, with a natural feel for his glovework and his batsmanship. Bob Woolmer decribes him as 20% of the team. When that vital 20% fails, the team suffers. Distinguished ex-cricketers have rated him highly, and after England's tour of Pakistan last year he was thought to be one of the best in the world.

This morning Inzamam-ul Haq needed a century to make sure he had scored one against every Test nation. More importantly, he required a substantial innings to lift his team into a commanding position. The record may have slipped away from him today but this was the best hundred Inzy never got.

From the moment he began to the moment Mohammad Asif played a bizarre defensive stroke to end Pakistan's innings, Inzy was in total control. That mastery did not only apply to his strokeplay but it also applied to the way he protected Asif from the strike. If Pakistan win this Test, this innings will be remembered as one of Inzamam's greatest.

One of the joys of watching cricket is a final stand from a major batsman as the tail wags around him. It is great entertainment for the team's supporters and neutrals, not so much fun for the bowling side of course.

Danish Kaneria's introduction to international cricket was accompanied by great optimism. Here was a young man whose bowling was mature beyond the age of his wrist. He spun the ball sharply, he could get it to drift in, he rarely bowled bad balls, and he had enough energy to keep going on and on and on. With Shane Warne's retirement, Kaneria has announced his desire to succeed him as the world's premier leg spinner. But Kaneria's career has been a triumph of ambition over achievement. The occasions have been few when Kaneria has threatened to run through a top order and he has achieved it on even fewer.

His first innings performance on a helpful wicket hinted that he might be a genuine threat if Pakistan could muster a sufficient lead. Well, Pakistan's lead might not have been great but it was possibly sufficient. Kaneria might not have had much back up but he had Mohammad Asif. That Kaneria failed to take a single wicket in these circumstances is bewildering, an enigma. Pakistan might still not have won but Kaneria, you imagined, might make it one hell of a task. He didn't. His failure in helpful conditions leaves Pakistan's selectors with a hellish dilemma: Pakistan need Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul back but can they be risked? All this might spell good news for Mohammad Sami?

Whatever happens with the pace attack it will be a surprise if Kaneria is not twirling away at the other end. But leg spinners are meant to be match winners not stock bowlers--and Kaneria has some matches to win. He might work on his flipper too. Without that he can forget following in Warne's footsteps.

International cricket is not for those of a weak constitution, nor should it be a forum for racism. Herschelle Gibbs may have uttered his words for "ears only" but such an excuse is not acceptable in a public arena. Chris Broad's decision to ban Gibbs is correct, whether or not the ban is sufficient is another matter. South Africa, too, can have no complaints, particularly since Graeme Smith managed to have Shoaib Akhtar banned for swearing during his team's last tour of Pakistan.

The fans who abused Paul Harris and struck Makhaya Ntini are a disgrace to Pakistani supporters everywhere. This sorry incident has no winners.

But it does expose a deeper problem with South African cricket. Smith's team fully deserved their victory, Pakistan were outplayed, but the manner of the victory left something to be desired. The snarling--and persistent--abuse that South Africa's players hurled at Pakistan's players went some way beyond sledging. It is amazing that the umpires tolerated it.

Pakistan's attempt at measured aggression was a sensible approach in the first innings but half the team perishing to hook or pull shots was a display of misplaced ambition. Australian batsmen showed admirably how it is wise to eschew this exhilarating stroke in favour of longevity, even on home bouncy wickets that they are familiar with.

Pakistan may have done enough in the first innings to dominate from here on--and Mohammad Asif helped spare the blushes of his batting colleagues--but this obsessive compulsion with the hook shot cost Pakistan a hundred runs or more.

Pakistan's embarrassment of riches has quickly turned into a poverty of resources. Mohammad Yousuf and Umar Gul were the best batsman and best bowler of 2006, and losing them is a major blow to Pakistan's hopes of winning their first ever series in South Africa. After India almost pulled off a memorable surprise, Pakistan must have been brimming with confidence. Yousuf's loss will be the greater since his phenomenal run of last year earned him the status of Pakistan's most dependable batsman.

Pakistani batsmen have historically struggled in South Africa and this series promises to be a fascinating test of their consistency. Memories of outings at Old Trafford and Mohali will fill Pakistan fans with dread. The pressure will now be on Inzamam to carry the batting and prove his stature with a first successful series in South Africa. A career devoid of achievement in Australia or South Africa will be a career that will not be properly celebrated.

Yousuf's absence--and that of Shoaib Malik--will, however, be an unexpected opportunity for Pakistan's next generation of batsmen, Faisal Iqbal and Yasir Hameed--it is hard to see Asim Kamal nudging his way in front of them. Pakistan's top six suddenly looks light on experience but this is exactly the kind of step that players need to take on the path to a bigger career. As much as anything, it will be a test of character for the younger batsmen, particularly the two openers.

Call me a heretic, Shane Warne was a true great but Abdul Qadir was better. I say this for several reasons.

1. Warne was barely able to bowl a googly, Qadir had several.

Inzamam sung a famliar song on arrival in South Africa: The past is forgotten we're all for one and one for all. Pakistan churn out this piece of ham-fisted spin-doctoring so often that it has become tedious. For once, it would be nice to know that such statements aren't required. Inzamam, though, has brought this current controversy about the tour selection and his relationship with Shoaib Akhtar upon himself. It's simple enough to conclude that power is back in the hands of Pakistan's captain after Nasim Ashraf's premature attempt to slap him down. The reinstatement of Mushtaq Ahmed is evidence enough. Magic Mushy may well have much to offer Pakistan cricket but I'm not sure what he could have done in the past couple of months to bring about this volte-face.

The lesson that Ashraf has learned is that people care more about cricketers than they do about officials. And secondly, people care more about results than they do about individual cricketers. Pakistan's abysmal failure in the Champions Trophy punctured Ashraf's machismo but the worry is that the pendulum has swung too far back in Inzamam's favour for the good of Pakistan cricket.

Inzamam's hold over the team is a double-edged sword. If he uses his influence in a positive way Pakistan may well be capable of achieving great success this year. However, if his mood crushes the people around him, which it began to do during last summer's tour of England, Pakistan cannot succeed.