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One missed for one

Pakistan failed to garner one bonus point by falling one run short yesterday.

They finished the 100th over of their first innings scoring 299 runs for two when they required just one more run to capture another batting point.

Pakistan managed two points while the Sri Lankan bowlers toiled under the mid-March sun to finish the day empty-handed. The islanders needed one more wicket within the required overs to collect a minimum one point.

Pakistan openers - Saeed Anwar and Wajahatullah Wasti, scored 33 runs in the first 10 overs before the stumps were drawn for Friday, the firsst day of the Asian Test Championship finale. Ijaz Ahmed, who returned to form with an unbeaten 118, and an obese Inzamamul Haq with 77 saw off the second day to wipe out Lankan hopes for the first-ever championship.

As per the rules of the tri-nation Test championship, which also included out-of-the-race India, Wasim Akram's Pakistan would certainly win the final unless Aravinda de Silva's depleted team pull off something better to beat their rivals.

Pakistan have earned 6 points while the Lankans could master 2 batting points in their first innings.

As there are no points for the second innings a draw would ensure the championship for Pakistan, who grabbed maximum four points in bowling by skittling Sri Lanka out for 231 in 78 overs.

Best wishes for Bade Mian

Pakistan coach Javed Miandad surely missed his wife sorely yesterday.

Sitting at the dressing room with his boys batting confidently, the miserable mind of Miandad, adorably called as 'Bade Mia' of Pakistan cricket, should drift back and forth between Karachi and Dhaka as he had to pass a very special day far from his family.

On this day, March 13, the famous Pakistani tied the knot sixteen years back. His family lives in Karachi.

Miandad, who became coach last year, born on June 12, 1957 in Karachi. The star batsman of the yore posses an enviable record as a cricketer.

He scored 8832 runs in 124 Test matches, averaging 52.57 with 23 hundreds and 43 half-centuries. Miandad's number of matches, runs, centuries, fifties and catches (as a fielder) are all still Pakistan Test records.

Aged 19 years, 141 days he became the youngest player to score a double hundred (206 against New Zealand in Karachi, 1976-77) in the history of Test cricket.

Shiv Sena scared Sufi

He is a gem of supporter.

Even at the ripe old age of 55, he goes where Pakistan goes. Sufi Abdul Jalil, a rabid cricket junkie from Sialkot, is a familiar face at the gallery of most grounds around the world.

The Star Sport camera crew spotted the bubbly, bearded gentleman on the stands at the Bangabandhu National Stadium. Draped all over in the green-white Pakistan flag, Sufi inspired a band of Bangladeshi lads to chant and dance ceaselessly to buck up the his favourite cricketers. The amiable cricket aficionado came to Dhaka this time at the courtesy of the Pakistan sports minister.

He served in the Dubai Municipal Corporation for 26 years and did not miss a single match played in the desert venue of Sharjah since 1981. He retired last year.

But much to the frustration of Sufi, he could not make the Indian trip in January as the Hindu fundamentalist party, Shiv Sena, threatened to spoil Pakistan's historic tour of India.

Sufi, who is already famous by the electronic eye of satellite TV network, was refrained by his family members from making the trip fearing that he could become an easy target of Shiv Sena.

Don't do the way Outlook did

An Indian journalist had been chasing Wasim Akram for an interview prior to the start of the day's play when at one point Akram melted.

``Well you can take it when we'll be in India,'' Akram said while returning to the dressing room. Pakistan will go to India later this month to feature in a triangular tournament which also includes Sri Lanka.

The persuasive newsman asked, ``Exactly where in India?''

``Well, you can do it in Jamshedpur. But don't write anything negative about me the way the Outlook did,'' Akram, who is at the centre of match-fixing controversy, warned.

The Indian weekly magazine published the excerpt of Judge Quayum's report. The judge heads a one-man commission, formed by the Pakistan government to investigate match-fixing allegation in the country's cricket.

Smith looked for what?

He was in search of something.

Cammie Smith, the West Indian match referee of the final, was seen yesterday examining the shoulder, calf and thigh muscles of Shoaib Akhter, the newest speed sensation of Pakistan. Before the start of the play, Shoaib faced the friendly investigation of the former Caribbean cricketer outside the boundary rope.

The young fast bowler, who shot into prominence by producing two lighting yorkers in succession that sent the stumps of Indian master batsman Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid cart-wheeling in the first match of the Asian Test Championship at Eden Gardens last month, appeared a bit embarrassed by the gentle shakedown.

``He's probably looking for an electronic device with the help of which Shoaib (arguably rated as the fastest in the world) probably generates so much pace,'' quipped a reporter close by.

VIPs keep coming

The distinguished dignitaries of the Asian Cricket Council keep on coming to the city.

Thilanga Sumathipala, president of the Asian Cricket Council and the chief of Sri Lankan board, and Khalid Mahmood, the president of the Pakistan Cricket Board, are expected to arrive tomorrow.

Nuski Mohamed, honorary treasurer of the ACC, is already in town.