All of you are correct that Pakistan lost the finals due to bad umpiring.

I understand if Inzi got out for zero, so was Gilcrist out in the very first over of the second match, but he was given a chance by the umpire (but it may have been an umpiring mistake; however then there should have been consistency). However if you closely look at the two finals, despite bad umpiring decisions, Pakistanis were still with chances to win.

The way Shoaib Malik threw away his wickets in both the games, the way Inzi got out in the first match, the way Abdul Razzaq got run out in the first match and caught behind in the second, the way Shahid Afridi got run out in the second match (no need to have gone for the second run), the way Youhana got himself bowled in the second match, then the dropped catches, mis-fieldings (in contrast Clarke and Ponting saved almost twenty runs in each match stopping certain fours on the off-side), etc.; all these instances were the real cricketing reasons or faults of Pakistanis, which should be the actual reasons of our defeat (need to improve a lot).

However the best thing was Pakistani players did try till the end, fought very hard and showed they can beat the best in the world in one-day cricket; a refreshing change after the test match experiecne, where eventually Pakistanis surrendered cheaply (except for the last game, when Asim Kamal played a superb innings only to unfortunately find himself back in Pakistan).

What Inzi and Woolmer has done with Yasir Hameed, Azhar Mahmood and Taufiq Umer is not something pleasing to watch; especially Taufiq Umer, who was not played throughout the series only to find himself in the last game; Taufiq got the same treatment against India last year, when he was brought in for the decisive game.


Now read the following article and see what has been brewing for the past one year or so.


I feel the commercial value Shoaib Akhtar has, may compel board to keep playing him; don't you think Pepsi and others have spent so much on Shoaib and used him in their Ads.; wouldn't they want Shoaib to be present in India; they need him to be there to cash it all.

And remember it is Pepsi (although it may be Pepsi Pakistan), who has at last come forward to sponsor National School Cricket Championship in Pakistan; Yes: The world has become very commercialized and if PCB does not include Shoaib Akhtar for the Indian tour, much money may be lost by these important sponsors; and in turn, may be the Board.