KARACHI, Dec 31: What does 2008 hold for Pakistan cricket after a dreadful preceding year? Inevitably, this question was being repeatedly asked throughout the dismal 2007 as Pakistan stuttered from one front to another in the hope of salvaging their battered pride.

Indeed, the riding was rough as the statistics prove. Just one Test win in eight with four defeats and mere eight victories in 23 One-day Internationals. The only time Pakistan redeemed and consoled themselves was the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa where India beat them in a pulsating final at Johannesburg.

Expected changes at the top following the tragic demise of coach Bob Woolmer and the resignation – and ultimately retirement – of Inzamam-ul-Haq following the shocking first-round World Cup exit never came.

Younis Khan, so long the heir apparent to Inzamam, suddenly opted to refuse the captaincy which was his for the taking. The abrupt decision left the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) with little choice but to throw in the largely inexperienced Shoaib Malik at the deep end.

But PCB’s biggest surprise of the year was its choice of Geoff Lawson as the successor to Woolmer after many felt Dav Whatmore had the best credentials to take over as Pakistan’s national coach after working wonders with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The phlegmatic Lawson, with hardly any coaching CV to back up, generally looked out of sorts in the hot seat when Pakistan faced South Africa and India during the last quarter of 2007.

Malik, understandably, found the going arduous as did Lawson. So much so, questions started to crop up about their future especially that of the captain whose place in the playing XI was regularly questioned on merit.

And although a freak injury ended his tour of India, Malik refused to leave the comfort of the preferential treatment such as the five-star stay and the perks to go with it. The scribes on tour were perplexed to see Malik appearing several times at the media briefings despite being ruled out of the last two Tests.

Shoaib Akhtar’s habitual flirtation with controversy dogged him almost every time he was in the news. Not even the record PCB fine levied on him failed to keep him out of the limelight — for all the wrong reasons. By the end of year, he consigned himself to the glamorous world of Bollywood.

The Rawalpindi Express played in the Kolkata Test without considering his health and was soon derailed. The only time the temperamental fast bowler ever looked like threatening the Indians was in the first Test in New Delhi and briefly on the last day of the series in Bangalore.

Sadly, Pakistan lacked the firepower to challenge both South Africa and India with Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul sidelined by injuries. Had they been fit and available the story might have been different. It is a point worth noting that a Pakistan XI has never featured Shoaib, Asif and Umar together.

The lure of the breakaway Indian Cricket League (ICL) effectively ended the career of underachieving all-rounder Abdul Razzaq along with some others.

On a positive note, the gain was the re-emergence of Misbah-ul-Haq as the appropriate successor to Inzamam who brought down curtains on his glittering career in ‘mysterious circumstances’ when he literally allowed himself to be stumped only two runs short of Javed Miandad’s Pakistan record of Test runs.

Misbah, however, proved his critics wrong by thrice saving Pakistan from follow on, more notably in India where he shone brightly amid the pain of series defeat after announcing his arrival on the Twenty20 stage.

As the year ended the threat of another no-show by Australia looms large in the anarchy-like situation the country finds itself now following the assassination of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

As the PCB braces itself for an anxious wait from its Australian counterpart in the year of the general elections, the fate of international cricket in Pakistan hangs in the balance. The PCB hierarchy has made it clear that either the Australia squad visit Pakistan in the spring of 2008 or the series stands cancelled.

The PCB needs to make serious decisions because the eventual cancellation of the Australian tour will cast doubts over the fate of Asia Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy — two limited-overs events never hosted by Pakistan.