COLOMBO, July 28: Sri Lanka has never been a happy hunting ground for Pakistan when it comes to one-dayers and to finish third in a virtually three-nation contest is another disappointing return for a highly-talented side , chiefly because of the team management's ignorance of the bonus point rule.

This is not the first time that Pakistan had to take an early flight back home from Colombo. It had happened twice before during a tri-nation tournament involving the hosts and South Africa and in the last ICC Champions Trophy where Pakistan failed to get beyond the first round.

So, once again Sri Lanka has proved to be Pakistan's Waterloo although it could have been easily avoided this time. But unfortunately it has become a part of Pakistan cricket's chequered history.

Such results, as achieved in Sri Lanka, are now a regular feature for Pakistan cricket since the disastrous campaign of World Cup 2003 in southern Africa. Another factor that must be taken into consideration is the fact that the current team is simply not good enough, it lacks the killer instinct and is also brittle in the batting department, shoddy in ground fielding and above all, poor in catching.

For all intent and purposes, Pakistan failed to make the final due to lack of knowledge of the competition rules on part of the expensively assembled foreign coaches and the captain during the crucial match against India.

Having India on the ropes, the ignorance of the team management of the bonus point rule led to Pakistan letting the Indians off the hook in the closing minutes of the match.

One can only guess that the coach, manager and the rest of the camp were rejoicing over the thought of beating India as for them victory over their arch-rivals was the end of this world.

Even the experts here are still debating and are flabbergasted over the Pakistan dressing room's inability to relay the message to the captain during the last two overs that India must not be allowed to score more than 239 runs.

What Pakistan needed was to restrict India to 239 and had all the opportunity to do so. However, lack of communication between the coach and the captain enabled the Indians to reach 241, giving them a fresh lease of life with the bonus point.

Apparently, no signal came from the Pakistan dressing room to warn the captain about the bonus point. As it transpired two measly runs in the end caused Pakistan's downfall which with better understanding could have easily been avoided and earned Pakistan a place in the final by winning their last match against Bangladesh which would have been a mere formality considering the strength of the two teams.

Later, Pakistan coach and the captain described the bonus point rule as ludicrous. Such utterances have not gone well with the game's ruling body and everyone thought they were in bad taste.