In Pakistani cricket fortunes rise and fall with the sun. While only a few days ago I wrote about the myriad challenges being faced by Mohammad Asif, it now appears that Ijaz Butt, PCB Chairman, has all but mandated that Asif will be making a comeback and soon.

Suddenly, a drug arrest in Dubai, is a “minor” incident. Only in Pakistan can the Chairman of the PCB wash away a problem like this, with a casual comment. Asif has many problems, and as a young man he needs to sort them out. Give the man some time. Plus, does he just walk back into the squad? Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul and Rao Iftikhar seem to be doing pretty well. Sohail Khan and Azhar Ali are knocking on the door. Does an unfit Asif who hasn’t played competitive cricket for a year have a place in the squad?

IPL has come a big way in promoting the game of cricket or rather the 'instant cricket' in a very big way.

Many youngsters who would like to show-case their talents have welcomed this and have made most of the opportunity available to them.

However, it is necessary to take a careful look at the format of this 'limited-overs' game and see how far does to go to do justice to the young players to don the national colors and play at the highest level...viz the test match.

The obvious question that comes to the mind: is playing in IPL a 'must' to showcase the talent?

The logical answer that would come out is a big NO. The IPL games does not in any way project a player worthy of playing test matches.

These games hardly put to test the technicalities, temparament, approach, endurance, mindset etc required to play a five-day game (with no 'playing condition restrictions' that are applicable to the limited version of the game).

A champion in the IPL gam ... Read more »

Now before I get started, this isn't another ramble about how Test cricket is/will be dead. I don't believe that. Whilst the hit and giggle stuff bring people into the game, I think that as people enjoy and understand the game more, Tests begin to have more of an appeal.

But thats another story for another day. What this post is about, following from breeno's post about Test status and a competition, is my thoughts on what the ICC must do to stop cricket getting stagnant. Now I must add that I have no experience in organising a global competition, so bare with me if I make any mistakes.1) Infrastructure.

As pointed out in a recent blog, what Bangladesh and many other developing cricketing nations are lacking is quality infrastructure and, following from that, experts. The growth of cricket in those countries has been slowed by boards not focusing on grass roots. What many of those countries need is a way of encouraging and nurturing talent, right from school age childre ... Read more »