Pakistan Cricket is Back to Normal

It's official. The lull in Pakistan cricket is finally over.

Ever since the Bob Woolmer tragedy, things have been unusually quiet in Pakistani cricket. Sure, there have been the odd spats, controversy over the appointment of the new coach, some uproar over ICL offers, even a retirement or two. But nothing, really, to compare with the serial bedlam of 2006, when there was a new scandal virtually every week.

All that changed when Shoaib Akhthar assaulted Mohammad Asif. Details of the incident are still fuzzy but involve, in no particular order, Shoaib Akhthar, Mohammad Asif, Shahid Afridi, a discussion on respect, a stray bat, and aspersions cast upon Shoaib's ancestry.

Something in that heady mix of ingredients caused Shoaib to lose it completely, and produce a fit of inspired lunacy. It ended with Shoaib brandishing the above mentioned stray bat and swinging it at his bowling partner. Luckily, Asif escaped with nothing more than a bruised thigh.

Back home on the next available flight, Shoaib attributed the inspiration for his act to Zidane's famous head-butt (it's like the gift that keeps on giving). Now, there may be some parallel between Akhthar's bat-brandishing and Zidane's moment of madness, but it remains to be seen if Pakistan forgives Shoaib as readily as France did Zizzou.

All of this, however, is secondary. The important thing is that Pakistan cricket is finally back to normalcy. And we all have to thank Shoaib Akhthar for that.