Shoaib to pay for losses to India

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">var server = '203.197.64.235'; var sitepage = "www.timesofindia.com/india/index.html"; var position ="Bottom1"; if (! (RN)) { var RN = new String (Math.random()); var RNS = RN.substring (2, 11); } var oas='http://' + server + '/RealMedia/ads/'; var oaspage= sitepage + '/1' + RNS + '@' + position; //the belladpart starts here function lrTrim(thestring) { thestring = thestring.replace(/^\s*(.*)/, "$1"); thestring = thestring.replace(/(.*?)\s*$/, "$1"); return thestring; } var xyz=0; var sss = lrTrim(bellyad.innerText).split(/^/m); strpart = new Array(sss.length); for (i=0;i<sss.length;i++) iflrtrimsssi.length=""> 60) { strpart[xyz] = lrTrim(sss[i]); xyz = xyz+1; } } if(xyz > 1) var xcounter=1; else var xcounter=0; var ifirstsub = bellyad.innerHTML.indexOf(lrTrim(strpart[xcounter]).substring(0,30)); if (ifirstsub == -1) ifirstsub=bellyad.innerHTML.lastIndexOf(lrTrim(strpart[0]).substring(strpart[0].length-15,strpart[0].length)); var sfirst = bellyad.innerHTML.substring(0,ifirstsub); var sSecond = bellyad.innerHTML.substring(sfirst.length , bellyad.innerHTML.length); if (doweshowbellyad==1) bellyad.innerHTML = sfirst + '<a href="' + oas + 'click_nx.ads/'+ oaspage + '" target="_top"><img align="right" vspace="10" hspace="10" src="' + oas + 'adstream_nx.ads/' + oaspage + '" border="0" alt="Cliquez ici !" /></a>' + sSecond;</sss.length;i++)></script><br />The debacle at the hands of India is still giving off aftershocks that the Pak cricket establishment is finding hard to recover from and Shoaib Akhtar is again at the centre of it.<br /><br /><img align="left" src="/photo/726453.cms" alt="/photo/726453.cms" border="0" />The PCB seems to be working on the premise of: To rib Shoaib or not to. You will recall that Shoaib had said he was injured and that a cracked rib was the offending part of his anatomy that was causing him not to bowl in the third and deciding Test against the Indians. <br /><br />The Pakistan Cricket Board had accused Shoaib of underperforming deliberately and instigated a witchhunt against him. But having failed to pass on the blame (primarily due to former Pak cricket legend Imran Khan taking Akhtar''s side) for the Test and ODI series losses to India, the Pak board has decided that it will punish Akhtar for non-performance after all - albeit in an indirect manner. <br /><br />So, ostensibly, no one is blamed for the India debacle yet indirectly somebody does pay the price. And so we find that the PCB has decided to ''rest'' Akhtar for the Asia Cup in spite of the fact that Akhtar had pronounced himself fit. <br /><br />Now, the fiery bowler has taken the Pak establishment on in a headlong charge by insisting that he wants to play in the Asia Cup. He is himself working on the premise that he is the biggest thing in Pak cricket and that this alone will generate enough controversy to apply pressure on the selectors.<br /><br />But the board had been vacillating on who it should blame and what the penalty should be. It had even tried to pass on the buck to coach Javed Miandad and PCB CEO Rameez Raja. But both had escaped blame, primarily by showing that they had no enforcing clause in their contracts that would force players to do their bidding. So, how could they be blamed for losses. <br /><br />With no action taken, the mentor of Pak cricket President general Pervez Musharraf had stepped in. And in a meeting with PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan, he gave a free hand to Khan to take decisive action to show the people that something was being done to atone for the losses and correct wrongs for the sake of a better cricketing future.<br /><br />The result: Shoaib Akhtar being forcibly ''rested'' for the Asia Cup. It was a decision that was taken at the highest level and barring a national calamity, the chances of Akhtar getting to play are remote, in spite of Imran Khan doing his best for the bowler.<br /><br /></div> </div>