Suicide attack keeps PCB on tenterhooks

KARACHI: Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram might believe that the ninth Asia Cup was too long an event and did not serve any real purpose for the hosts, but the Pakistan Cricket Board feels the successful organisation of the tournament has helped the Board's cause to host the Champions Trophy in September.
    
After a smooth sailing for nearly 12 days there was some bad news on the final day of the tournament here on Saturday when a suicide attack near Lal Masjid in Islamabad left many dead.
    
The irony for PCB was that the news of the blast trickled in at a time when the head of the security consultancy of the ICC was in town for discussions on the security arrangements for the biennial event.
    
However, President Pervez Musharraf, who attended the Asia Cup final on Sunday night, clarified that despite the terror strike, Pakistan is still a safe place for international teams and sportsmen.
    
"We have to fight terrorism together and although the blast is tragic but life must go on. The citizens want sporting events to be held in Pakistan and we will not allow anyone to derail this process," said Musharraf.
    
But it was obvious from the worried looks on the faces of PCB offcials that the blast in Islamabad came at a precarious time when some cricket playing nations have already expressed their apprehensions in travelling to the strife-torn country in September.
    
Had the blast not taken place in Islamabad, PCB would have been in a safer position regarding the hosting of the Champions Trophy.
    
Otherwise, the Asia Cup went on smoothly with four Test playing nations of the continent joined by minnows, Hong Kong and UAE participating in the double league competition.
    
However, the final showdown between India and Sri Lanka turned out to be disappointment inspite of batsmen friendly conditions.
    
After a series of big scoring matches, the title clash was a lop-sided story with Sri Lanka's new find in spin department, Ajantha Mendis carving out figures of 6 for 13 as India lost the big match comprehensively by 100 runs.
    
"I thought after playing so many games there would be some wear and tear on the square. There was some slowness but definitely spinners had some thing to go on," Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene said after retaining the trophy.
    
"Even when India bowled there was turn and we knew if we drag the game we could challenge them with our spin attack," he stated.
    
If anything, the Asia Cup proved the consistency of the Lankans. Jayawardena's men showed that they are more consistent than India and Pakistan when it comes to performing in the big stages, considering they had also played the final of the Caribbean World Cup.
    
The Lankans have achieved double delight in the tournament. Apart from retaining the title, in young Mendis, Jayawardena has found in what can be termed as Muttiah Muralitharan's successor.
    
Mendis was undoutedly the surprise package of the event, scalping 17 wickets, including six in the final. He eventually turned out to be the big difference between Sri Lanka and other sides.
    
Pakistan's failure to carry over points from the qualifying stage cost them a place in the final, although captain Shoaib Malik insisted that this didn't make a difference as they needed to win all three games in the second league.
    
In the end, the tournament structure was such that although India and Sri Lanka lost one match each in the super four league they still played in the final as Pakistan sat out licking its wounds and raising questions among the critics and cricket fans whether the combination of coach Geoff Lawson and captain Malik was really going to work in the
long term for the nation's cricket.
    
Certainly there was a noticeable difference between the way the captains of the four teams conducted themselves in the super league stage.
    
While Indian skipper M S Dhoni and Jayawardene were confident and calm, Malik was clearly annoyed and irritated at the hard questions put to him about his role and the team's performance.
    
In contrast, Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful had little to say and his conferences proved to be the shortest ones in the tournament.
    
All in all, good news for Pakistan was that all the teams were happy with the security arrangements and hospitality provided to them during the tournament.
    
"Personally I had no issues with the security and it was comfortable like it is always in Karachi," Dhoni said.
    
He was also the most popular captain in the tournament because of his good humour, light remarks and straight forward nature.
    
However, the significant aspect of the event was that due to the growing commercialisation of cricket and the trend of players having exclusive contracts with media groups, neither Pakistan, India or Sri Lanka bothered to bring any of their
top performers for the media interaction which were handled either by the captains or coaches.
    
One such press conference turned out to be a disaster and a source of embarrassment for the PCB when Lawson was sent to take questions after Pakistan lost to Sri Lanka.
    
The Australian got involved in a war of words with the local media and later it led to a boycott. However, a public apology from Lawson sorted out the crisis.
    
But all in all, the Asia Cup was a triumph for the PCB and an ideal opportunity to promote the Asian Cricket Council. Ironically, the tournament ended without the ACC being able to give a date and venue for the next edition of the event.