Pakistan cricket has been hit badly by different controversies after winning the Twenty20 World Cup in 2009. The worst of all the controversies was the spot-fixing scandal. The scandal did hurt the team badly, but things have moved in a better direction since then.
Pakistan had a troublesome time when the Sri Lankan team was attacked by terrorists in Lahore. The team was heading into the Twenty20 world cup with a new leader in Younis Khan.
Younis inspired his team to a historic win and things looked like heading into the right direction finally for the team. Lesser did everyone know that the worse hasn’t yet come for the team.
Pakistan lost the semi-final in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy and Younis was alleged into match-fixing. The news shattered the confidence of Younis, who stepped-down from the captaincy of the team and took some time-off from cricket.
Problems continued for the team as the newly appointed captain of the team, Mohammad Yousuf was unable to win a single match on the Australian tour in 2009-2010.
Several other players were questioned over match-fixing and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) handed over punishments to few of the key players of the team including life-bans to Yousuf and Younis.
A young team was sent to England with Shahid Afridi as the skipper of the side. However, Afridi retired from test cricket which gave an opportunity to Salman Butt to lead the team.
The start to Butt’s reign was exceptional as Pakistan overcame the mighty Australians in the second test match of the two-match series levelling the series 1-1.
However, several players were alleged of spot-fixing during the four-match Test series against England andMohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif along with their captain, Butt were suspended by ICC.
All the cricket lovers and former players were shocked by the controversy as the suspended players awaited their destiny. ICC found the players to be guilty and banned them for a long period of time along with heavy fines.
All these things led to a lot of trouble and shame for the country, but the Pakistan team gelled together to revive the lost glory of their country.
The consequences of the wrong-doing helped the Pakistan cricketers to completely focus on the game other than any other thing.
The players who were alleged of dividing the team were all out of the side and the team had only those players who wanted to play for their country and win for their team.
The team was led by Afridi in the ICC World Cup 2011 and made it to the Semi-Final stage of the tournament. This was an exceptional performance by the team which had gone through a very bad period recently.
However, Afridi quit international cricket after the Mega Event, following a dispute with team's coach Waqar Younis and Misbah-ul-Haq was given charge of the team since then.
Pakistan is considered to be one of the most dangerous teams in the limited form of cricket and with the players focused on the game; there are plenty of chances of winning the Twenty20 World Cup which will take place in Sri Lanka next year.
However, the players are currently focused on the ongoing series with Zimbabwe, which will be Waqar's last assignment with the side, as the former captain has resigned from the job following some health issues.
