The year commenced with Lt Gen Tauqir Zia the newly appointed Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) cleaning out some of the damage caused to the country's cricket by his predecessor Mujeeb-ur-Rehman. Appointed in 1999 through political influence, Mujeeb held the coveted appointment for a few months during which he played havoc with the game as well as its structure in Pakistan. Called `the young man in a hurry' he was fonder of personal publicity than doing something concrete for the game. Two of his baffling decisions will find a place in the annals of Pakistan's cricket history.

Mujeeb first appointed Moin Khan as Captain of the team for Sahara Cup 99 and then made a sudden in-flight change to replace him with Wasim Akram. He invited the British media including television to the Pakistan High Commission's office in London to make the announcement. The manner in which the whole episode took place, not only startled the players but also spread a wave of discontentment in the team.

Extremely fond of doing strange things, he decided to change the half-a-century-old logo of the team. Despite a lot of opposition from the media and saner elements in cricket including a press statement by me that made headlines, he was adamant to implement his plan. Besides the logo, he changed the traditional green blazer to blue and the gray trousers into green. Many observers dubbed the new attire as a `circus costume'. The team thus represented Pakistan in the Sahara Cup in its new dress. Since the change did not meet the national requirements and public criticism mounted, he had to rescind his decision and revert back to the old dress. A lot of cricket money went down the drain.

This was perhaps a small item to damage the game's image. The Year-2000 was the period of ups and downs and fluctuating fortunes in which the new set-up of the PCB had to deal with innumerable issues including some important ones. Some of the events had literally shaken the morale of players. The loss of World Cup 99 in which the team succumbed to Australia's onslaught in the final had put the players in a state of mental agony and humiliation. It was absolutely essential to restore their morale and rebuild their confidence.

The job was not as easy as one could imagine. The team toured Australia with perhaps the Aussies World Cup ghost haunting them and was beaten in the tests as well as in the one-day triangular series. This was followed by another debacle at the hands of visiting Sri Lanka on home soil. The shock of two consecutive defeats was, however, defused by constant motivation and other morale boosting steps taken by the PCB. Having shed the wave of depression, the team got into a winning streak by clinching the 3-Nation Coca Cola Cup at Sharjah in March 2000. Defeating a strong South Africa in the finals indicated that the team had started the upward march.

A tour of the Caribbeans was next on the international calendar. The team performed exceedingly well against heavy odds, winning the one-day tri-nation Cable and Wireless Trophy but lost the test series on account of some marginal umpiring decisions, some of them even acknowledged by the commentators.

The next event in which Pakistan created history was winning the Asia Cup for the first time since its inception in 1983. In the championship held in Bangladesh, Pakistan defeated the defending champions Sri Lanka in the finals. Pakistan then hopped over to Sri Lanka and defeated the Pearl Islanders 2-0 in the test series.

In the Singer Cup that followed hosts Sri Lanka and South Africa, Pakistan did not prosper. The same happened during the 3-Nation Singer Trophy 2000 held in Singapore. Participants were Pakistan, South Africa and New Zealand and Pakistan lost to the Proteas in the finals of the championship. This was followed by the ICC Knock Out tournament held in Kenya in September. All the teams from the entire test playing countries of the world plus the hosts faced-off and the trophy was won by New Zealand.

Pakistan's latest venture was hosting the England team led by Nasser Hussain that toured Pakistan from October to December after a lapse of 13 years. Pakistan defeated the visitors 2-1 in the one–day series but lost the 3-test series by losing the final test at Karachi through a lacklustre performance unable to match the determination of the resurgent England team. The effects of the shock suffered by the nation are even being felt today. Many records were shattered. Not only that England defeated Pakistan after 38 years, it was Pakistan's first ever defeat at the National Stadium, Karachi since its construction in 1954.

The year's analysis will show that Pakistan played 41 one-day internationals during the year, won 20 and lost 21. In the test matches, out of the 12 tests, Pakistan won 3, lost 4 while 5 were drawn. This may not be a very encouraging result if compared to Australia, the wonder team of the year, which won all the 8 tests that it played. South Africa stands 2nd with 6 test victories. Pakistan's ratio of test victories which falls below 50 percent is certainly a cause for concern.

Among personal landmarks, Wasim Akram became the first player in the history of cricket to claim 400 wickets in both versions of the game. Similarly, Waqar Younis crossed the 300 test wickets mark during the year. Young Abdur Razzaq also distinguished himself by scoring a hat trick against Sri Lanka. Yousuf Youhana (1161) and Inzamam ul Haq (1074) appeared amongst the world's 10 top scorers in one-day cricket. With 1090 runs, Inzamam also emerged as the top scorer of the world in test cricket. Some other players also created headlines with their performance with bat and the ball.

The policy of over-dependence on upcoming youngsters and sidelining some senior players, however, backfired. To give impetus to the idea of forming a new team for the World Cup 2003, a lot of youngsters were tried including some awarded test caps. None of them gave the desired performance to secure a permanent place in the team. Ijaz Ahmed was shown the door perhaps prematurely while stalwarts like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Mushtaq Ahmed were fiddled with like toys. This was perhaps one aspect in which the Chief Selector Wasim Bari and his associates failed miserably.

Recalling Javed Miandad as Coach was a good and brave decision in the face of those who advocated the appointment of Jeff Boycott or another foreign coach. One needs to realize that most of the junior players in the team and scores of youngsters in the pipeline are not well educated. A wide communication gap between the players and the trainees would have caused serious problems to the two factions.

The appointment of a permanent manager in Brig (Retd) Kh. Muhammad Nasir also worked well. Although he did not belong to the field of cricket, still being a senior army officer he could administer the team better than others along with enforcing the right discipline.

The topmost among the other important issues that the PCB had to focus on was the menace of match fixing. The Board handled the issue with absolute wisdom taking prompt and the most suitable action on the report of Justice Qayyum. As a result former captain Saleem Malik and speedster Ata-ur-Rehman were banned for life while some others were awarded monetary punishment. While some countries are still in crisis, Pakistan is sitting pretty having settled this vital issue.

The Chairman PCB also paid due attention to streamlining the administration of the Board as well as concentrating on development activity. As a part of the expansion program he appointed officers to look after all the subjects. The development/improvement of stadiums, grounds and pitches received special attention. The gigantic task of installing floodlights at the National Stadium, Karachi and the Rawalpindi Stadium, pending for years, was completed in months.

The Board followed a sound and liberal financial policy. There was marked improvement in the generation of funds. The sponsorship deals, the award of Television right and other financial agreements were finalized to the benefit of Pakistan cricket.

In the overall analysis 2000 was a successful year for Pakistan's cricket from both the points of view, administration/organization of matches as well as quality of the game. It is nearly 18 months that Pakistan's cricket has been run under an adhoc arrangement. In the absence of a properly constituted board the Chairman has to rely on a few advisors to manage cricket affairs. One hopes in the New Year Pakistan cricket starts flourishing and the President of Pakistan who is the Patron of the PCB lifts the umbrella of adhocism from cricket and restores a proper board to build from the strong foundations laid in 2000.

© CricInfo