Cricinfo - Pakistan's pace bowling woes

Since Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul emerged as two of the most promising pace bowlers in the world, Pakistan have waited and hoped for the two to join Shoaib Akhtar in forming a potentially world-beating attack. But a spate of mishaps have prevented the trio from appearing together even once in any format of the game. Cricinfo rounds up the various injuries and scandals which have plagued them - and Pakistan's other fast bowlers - since January 2006.

ODI series against India - January-February 2006
Umar Gul had just come back after severe back injuries had threatened to finish his career, Mohammad Asif had announced himself for the first time on the international circuit and Shoaib Akhtar was coming off the back of his most impressive Test performances (against England). India had been beaten in the Tests, and if the three were available the ODI series looked to go the same way. Shoaib pulled up just before the first ODI, however, with what turned out to be serious ankle and knee injuries, though cynics maintained it was because his action had come under scrutiny again. India won the series 4-1.

Tour to Sri Lanka - March-April 2006
Shoaib missed the entire tour with a knee injury but Pakistan didn't miss him at all as Asif and Gul more than made up for his absence. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan was in impressive form as Pakistan won the ODI series. But he had to leave before the Test series began to attend to a family emergency. Ultimately, with Asif in incredible form, it didn't matter, his 17 wickets helping Pakistan to a 1-0 series win.

Tour to England - June-September 2006
The tour on which Pakistan's pace attack completely fell apart. Shoaib was always unlikely to play before the ODIs but Pakistan's Test preparations were further rocked when a groin injury Rana picked up while on county duty with Sussex was aggravated. It ruled him out of all four Tests. Things went from bad to worse as Asif injured his right elbow in a tour match against England A before the first Test. He came back only for the last, infamous, Test at the Oval. Rao Iftikhar Anjum, who had come to England as a replacement for Asif, also had to leave midway through the tour due to the death of his father. It left Pakistan relying on Gul, Mohammad Sami and Shahid Nazir, recalled after an eight-year exile. Though Gul began his improvement on the tour, Pakistan were comprehensively beaten in the Tests. And despite the return of Shoaib, Asif and Rana for the ODIs, they were held to a disappointing 2-2 draw.

ICC Champions Trophy - October-November 2006
Pakistan was collectively licking its lips at the prospect of 30 overs in every match being bowled by Shoaib, Asif and Gul, even as late as the day before the opening match. But on the morning of October 16, news emerged that Shoaib and Asif had tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid nandrolone, in internal tests held by the Pakistan board a few weeks earlier. Both were immediately sent back home, though initially it didn't seem to affect the team as they pulled off a fantastic opening win against Sri Lanka. But the absence told later, not least when having reduced South Africa to 42 for 5 in a do-or-die game, they lacked the depth in resources to knock out the opposition and were duly bundled out at the group stage. Asif and Shoaib were banned by a PCB tribunal for one and two years respectively. Barely a month later, however, the bans were overturned on appeal by another tribunal.

West Indies in Pakistan - November-December 2006
Shoaib and Asif were ruled out after their positive dope tests and bans, but a weak West Indian line-up had few answers to Gul and Shahid Nazir. Between them the pair took 27 wickets in three Tests. When Rana returned to form in the ODI series soon after, leading Pakistan to a comfortable win, the future was suddenly rosy once again.

Tour to South Africa - January-February 2007
With the bans on Shoaib and Asif overturned and Gul in form, Pakistan again looked forward to the three exploiting helpful conditions in South Africa. Here, though, was another sign that it just wasn't meant to be: Shoaib was controversially not selected for the touring squad initially, as he was deemed not to be match fit. Yet ten days later, he was called to the squad as cover for Gul, who, it turned out, had travelled with an ankle injury in the first place, and which forced him to miss the entire tour. Shoaib, meanwhile, arrived to play a pivotal role on the first day of the second Test, taking four wickets. However, he pulled his hamstring in the process, ruling him out of the Test and the rest of the tour. Asif manfully bore the burden, helping Pakistan win one Test and almost leading them to a series win, even as speculation about his continuing elbow problem persisted.

Meanwhile, Shabbir Ahmed, the forgotten fast bowler through the year, had his action cleared by the ICC and was eligible to play for the first time since November 2005. He was called up by captain Inzamam-ul-Haq only for the selectors to veto the decision, arguing that he wasn't fit. Eventually, Inzamam had his way and Shabbir flew out for the ODI series. He played in the only Twenty20 international, looking rusty with a remodelled action and injured his groin. Within a week of arriving, he too was sent back. He will now be seen playing in the Indian Cricket League.

World Cup - March-April 2007
After days of intense speculation and rumour, Asif and Shoaib were left out of Pakistan's World Cup squad again at the very last minute. Ostensibly the duo were omitted because of elbow [Asif] and knee [Shoaib] injuries: but it was widely believed that the PCB was worried they could still test positive for banned substances at the tournament. Even in their absence, there was little excuse for a first-round failure, sealed by a loss to Ireland on a green top.

ICC World Twenty20 - August-September 2007
Dope out of their systems, thorough pre-tournament training camps to ensure every player was fit; now was surely the opportunity for Pakistan's first-choice pace attack to come together? Think again. Just before the tournament began, Shoaib struck Asif with a bat in a dressing-room brawl and duly got himself sent back to Pakistan, facing a possible life ban.

South Africa in Pakistan - September-October 2007
Asif and Gul played in both Tests even as Pakistan chose to rely heavily on spin. Shoaib sat out the Tests as part of a 13-match ban for his indiscretion in South Africa. He made it back in time for the last ODI of the series, the only snag now being that Asif had been bowled fully in to the ground. His long-standing elbow problem flared up during the second Test and forced him out for four of the five ODIs, including of course the only ODI Shoaib played.

Tour to India - November-December 2007
Asif's elbow injury ruled him out, initially, from the ODI series but eventually from much of the tour (although there remains an outside chance that he might be fit for the final Test). Gul then pulled out of the first Test with a back complaint and just as he seemed to be recovering in time for the second Test, news emerged that he was out of the series and being sent back home. And finally Shoaib, who was looking fitter by the spell, was admitted to hospital days before the second Test at Kolkata with a chest infection that put him in doubt for the Test.

Pakistan's pace bowling woes

A timeline of Pakistan's problems with pace bowlers over the last two years