After that dramatic drawn Test at Abu Dhabi England seems to have gained a lot more in confidence than they had prior to the start of the series. The focus therefore has now shifted on to a different venue which has its own reputation of helping the spinners and where Pakistan boasts a better record than the other grounds .

With Yasir Shah declared fit and back in the side, the body language of Misbah-ul-Haq and his men seem to have changed for the positive since the wily leg spinner surely has the ability to perform well here or on any other surface.

His presence obviously will mean a lot for Pakistan to assert greater authority on a team which was whitewashed here in all the three Tests back in 2012.

Focus, no doubt, will now be on this crucial second Test and I hope that for the next five days, if the match goes to the wire like the first one, both England and Pakistan will make it a game worth watching.

Distractions, however, keep your mind away as has been the case in the last few days after the militant Shiv Sena activists barged into the BCCI offices to sabotage the India-Pakistan cricket officials meeting for resumption of a bilateral series between the two.

This realistically leaves us in no doubt that PCB’s sincere and consistent attempts to host India have gone down the drain with not much light at the tunnel end, even for a future dialogue in the coming weeks, unless a highly reluctant Indian government, led by their Prime Minister Narendra Modi, himself steps forward to find a workable solution — both at political and sports level.

The latest PCB attempt to lure India to play against them and the incident at BCCI headquarters has now diminished any chances of a Pakistan cricket umpire officiating there or a Pakistani artist performing and participating in India at any level.

That is no doubt sad for all those who would love to see people of the two neighbouring countries coming closer, through cricket or otherwise.

The question here, of course, is that if India have not been able to protect their offices and properties from a handful of trouble-makers, how can they as one of the leading cricketing countries save and protect the image of the game which they always boast of promoting.

The British media touring here with the England team are as much concerned at the recent incident which is no less disappointing for them as they had been expecting the two nations to join hands once again for revival of cricket.

Sports, no matter what people say, can never be kept away from politics and in India-Pakistan relationship this has been always quite prominent with a number of years lost in between without any cricket being played.

Thankfully, this never has been the case between Pakistan and England despite the fact that they have had their full share of cricket controversies and yet kept their sanity intact in the end to continue with the same enthusiasm as ever before.

Pakistan has always kept its doors open for any team, no matter where they belonged to. Unfortunately, the circumstances have changed and Pakistan not only had to be contented with what is on offer for them but also have to make sure to see this game in different perspective and be positive to keep the game going.

Let us, therefore, forget India for the moment and divert our attention and energies towards those who are ready, available and willing like England who are here in full force and committed to take Pakistan on in the second Test here in Dubai.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2015

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