Horses for courses

In a piece in the Dawn written before Pakistan were ousted from the ICC Champions Trophy, Saad Shafqat says they have reaffirmed their resilient fibre, notching a group-match victory against India that will be remembered through the ages. It was the kind of match that you remember not for actions but for reactions and now that times are tough, a quietly confident and competent leader like Younis Khan has risen from the debris.

After the Lahore terror attacks of March 2009, many observers – both within Pakistan and overseas – had virtually written Pakistan cricket’s obituary. We had misunderstood the vigour and determination of our cricket ethos. Now Pakistan is the numero uno team in Twenty20 cricket, and has also excelled on the world stage in ODIs. A full schedule of Test cricket – in Australia later this year and all of next summer in England, including two Tests against Australia that the English are eager to host for us – lies immediately ahead.