Pakistan cricket, a year after the spot-fixing saga
Osman Samiuddin, writing in the National , looks back on how Pakistan cricket was rocked, yet again, one year ago, and how the team has responded creditably on the field in the aftermath of that scandal.
Nikita Bastian
25-Feb-2013
Osman Samiuddin, writing in the National, looks back on how Pakistan cricket was rocked, yet again, one year ago, and how the team has responded creditably on the field in the aftermath of that scandal.
A year on, Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif - a spine for the side - are gone, probably forever. Even the News of the World is gone. Pakistan are still standing; standing still if nothing more. They are not better without the three but they have not been worse either. The bite, the glamour is gone, resilience and grit is in. Learning how not to lose, winning ugly, these are the new goals.
They have not lost any of three Test series since, though only one - against South Africa - was quality opposition. They reached the semi-finals of the 2011 World Cup in an unusually coherent manner. And they have been competitive against all opposition in 50-over cricket; only India have won as many ODIs since then. Herein lies the central truth that underpins ... Pakistan cricket. It does not quite reach Rudyard Kipling's standards of meeting triumph and disaster, and treating them just the same. But just to remain, to be alive after facing both, is sometimes an achievement.
Nikita Bastian is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo