It came as no surprise to learn that Rashid Latif, the last captain of Pakistan Cricket team before the present Inzimam-ul-Haq, has been banned for six months and imposed a fine. It is common thing to happen to people, who stand up against injustice and speak their mind. Such personalities are few and are not very much liked.

As human beings, when these individuals make some mistakes (big or small), those are taken as great offenses. These otherwise conscientious people have to go through much agony and torment in defending themselves to regain their dignity.

Rashid Latif has been one such gentleman, who stood against the tide of match-fixing in International Cricket and put his whole career at stake. That is the reason having played his first test match and one-day international in 1992; he has only played 37 test matches and 166 one-day matches until now. Compare this to Australian wicketkeeper, who started his one-day career in 1996 and test match career in 1999, Adam Gilcrest has played 62 test matches and 198 one-day internationals. If he had played as much as Gilcrest has, Rashid’s already splendid record would have been even better than any other wicket-keeping batsman.

There is no doubt about Rashid’s playing abilities. His natural faculties to understand the finer points of the game are well-known and well-demonstrated. His talents came with practical help for Pakistan after the World Cup 2003 debacle in South Africa. The way he led a very young team, which performed commendably, proved beyond doubt the worth of his innate abilities. The build-up process, which Rashid Latif led in the field from late March 2003 till September 2003, represents a noteworthy time in the history of Pakistan Cricket.

Throughout that time, it was clear a lot is happening outside the field, which eventually led to Rashid being dropped from the team for reasons not related to his playing and skippering skills. The pressure from general public and other reasons, eventually resulted in Lt. General Tauquir Zia, Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to also leave his post.

It was out of his exuberance to see Pakistan excel, Rashid Latif made one mistake in Multan Test catch-claim hullabaloo in 2003. He was send packing and never returned to the team. But his teammate had such affection for him that they played and won 5-0 the next five one-day matches’ series against Bangladesh in the name of Rashid Latif.

Moin Khan returned with a bang and stayed around for one year. But due to his shortcomings as a wicket-keeper, Moin could not continue any further than twelve months. Once Moin got injured and Younis Khan was tried as keeper in a one-day. Younis’s performance with the bat and behind the stumps really pleased the new Pakistani Coach Bob Woolmer. As such, when Moin got dropped, captain and coach of the team opted to bring in young Kamran Akmal while retaining Younis Khan to be used as second wicket-keeper. However the press reported that the option of if needed was also kept open for Rashid Latif because of his form and immense God Gifted abilities.

After more than satisfactory performance in the on-going Pakistan Domestic Cricket Season 2004-05, Rashid Latif deserved a call-back for the most difficult Down-Under tour, where Kamran Akmal as under-study would have immensely benefited. After the toughest of all tours of Australia, Pakistan has to go for two more very challenging tours of India and West Indies.

Caribbean tour is very important as the next World Cup 2007 is going to be held there. Rashid is thirty-six years old and based on his physique; he stands a good chance to easily stay around for another three to four years.

Although he was not selected for the Australian tour, there is always a chance open to be called in as replacement and/or increase the strength of the team. This has happened almost on all the past tours by Pakistan to Australia and other countries. The way the tour is progressing at this time in Australia, an experienced person such as Rashid Latif is need to be with the team and expectations are still high that With the Will of God, he will be in Australia just before the Christmas.

However it looks like there are some people, who may be because of Rashid’s tendency of doing intense dialogue on several issues, want to find an excuse to say good-bye to this cricketing star. It seems to be those desires that have resulted in this very hefty penance of six months ban from all Domestic and International cricket on Rashid. That mean he will not able to play till the end of May 2005.

The reason why it happened is that Rashid called his batsmen back to the pavilion, when Karachi Blues were tottering at 33/4. Later on Karachi Blues gave away this match being played at the International Iqbal Cricket Stadium Faisalabad, to the opponent home team

The reason captain Rashid cited for this concession is that pitch had dangerous uneven bounce, which was also providing unusual movement. Batsmen were in extreme danger of getting injured and a few of them had already got bruises. With the game already into the fourteenth over, umpires could have easily judged the pitch to be hazardous. But since no action was taken, Rashid as captain of Karachi Blues decided to call the team back and later on conceded the match.

Rashid Latif had a choice to declare his innings and put the opponent batsmen in the misery of missiles shooting pitch. That might have satisfied the umpires Mian Mohammad Aslam - Rasheed Bhatti and match referee Khalid Niazi. But to avoid any fatal injuries, Rashid decided not to put anyone at risk.

Yes: There were some regulations of the game breached, but this conceding of match was of an extraordinary nature. The final decision was to come from Shaharyar Khan, Chairman of the Board. It has been learnt from some press reports that Shaharyar Khan without meeting with Rashid Latif, decided to ban him for six months and imposed a $250 fine.

It is further been discovered that the Pakistan Cricket Domestic Regulations state: "If a match is conceded, the points scored by the defaulting team during the tournament will be nullified and the team will be scratched from the tournament. In addition, a fine of 15,000 rupees shall be imposed."

There is no mention of banning the captain of one team for six months from International cricket. Once Shaharyar Khan decided not to penalize the team by scratching it out of Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, why is the skipper banned not just from the tournament, but from all International Cricket. That does not make sense, as there is no such mention of International Cricket in the set of rules.

It looks like a subjective penance imposed by Shaharyar Khan either by himself or based on the advices he gets. Hopefully the Chairman will make all necessary arrangements this coming week to meet with Rashid Latif and may be some players of both the teams, in order to assess the whole situation and see if this mistake is such a big breach that a player can be banned for six months from International cricket.

On paper, monetary fine looks good enough, rather than unduly destroying the name and career of Pakistan’s icon.