It was on 3 March 2009 when international cricket was last played on Pakistani soil. Since then, the Pakistani team has been travelling all over the world to play their home fixtures and have been forced to play in conditions that are alien to the Pakistani players.
Despite that, the team has done extremely well to climb to the top five in ICC rankings and has the best Win/Loss ratio in ODIs played in 2011. However, this has all been achieved due to the presence of sheer talent in Pakistan and I very much doubt if any other team can emulate what Pakistan has achieved if they were to play all their home matches abroad.
Only the exposure to top level cricket makes a player a better cricketer and this is what happens in all top cricketing nations. The involvement of international cricketers in domestic tournaments such as the IPL, Big Bash and County cricket has tremendously helped in grooming young local talent and as a result, teams like India and England have been able to create a pool of 20-25 quality cricketers. Pakistan, without the luxury of these high level tournaments has still managed to stay at par with the top sides and if, as proposed, international cricket comes back to Pakistan (with Bangladesh scheduled to tour in April 2012), one can only think of a stronger Pakistani side in future. Hopefully, the arrival of international cricket takes us back to where we once used to be, the number one spot in the rankings.
SHEHARYAR KHALID
Lahore
