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Lawson on the edge

Geoff Lawson's days as Pakistan coach may be numbered after Pakistan's Asia Cup defeat to Sri Lanka in Karachi, which left them on the brink of elimination. Journalists boycotted his press conference after an extraordinary tirade before it had even started. "Couple of rules before we start," he said. "Don't make statements, ask questions. If someone asks a question twice, I won't answer it. Make questions sensible, otherwise I won't answer it."

Coach's pet comes of age

Two centuries and an 84 in three matches, all compiled at better than a run a ball. Somewhere, a certain Greg Chappell will be allowing himself a smile. Two years ago, when he expressed the view that Suresh Raina was the future of Indian batsmanship, many laughed at him. Raina's subsequent travails, in a team that veered off course collectively, were then held up as an example of everything that was wrong with the Chappell way.

Asia Cup minnows need batting lessons

Neither the United Arab Emirates nor Hong Kong disgraced themselves on the opening day of the Asia Cup, though Bangladesh and Pakistan won by comfortable margins. Both minnows did better than expected with the ball, but it was with the bat that the gulf in class between them and the Test-playing nations was really exposed.

Steyn opens a can of worms

Dale Steyn may have apologised for his recent comments, but they should still serve as a warning for various IPL franchises in the coming seasons. For every Shaun Marsh or Shane Watson who sees the event as an opportunity to press his international claims, there will be others who view it as a six-week paid vacation. For every Shane Warne or Shaun Pollock, there will be other senior pros who see the IPL as a long golden handshake.

Familiar foes thwart India at the last

This may be the new generation of Indian cricket, but familiar frailties remain. Tidy yet unimaginative with the ball, and unable to put together defining partnerships with the bat, they once again lost a final, to a Pakistan team demolished by 140 runs just days earlier. And in this age of video analysis and brainstorming, it was astonishing that it was a familiar duo that did all the damage.

Careful what you wish for

Before this game, Geoff Lawson had requested a 150-run triumph from his players. He got his wish. Pakistan almost managed to get the margin right, but just happened to be on the wrong end of the 140-run drubbing. Given that Bangladesh are the third team in the competition, India and Pakistan should meet again in the final this weekend, but Lawson needs to get much more out of his wards if his words aren't to be laughed off in the same way that the boy who cried "Wolf" was.

Asif case the symptom of a deeper malaise

Since he's been detained at Dubai Airport, no one really knows what happened with Mohammad Asif on Sunday night, when he flew to the Middle East from Mumbai. There's been plenty of speculation, mixed signals from Pakistan's cricket establishment, and alleged interviews with Asif himself. All that we do know for the moment is that drugs are involved, and that a promising career is once again on the skids.

IPL gets a Bollywood ending

This was the finale that the IPL bosses would have dreamt of. After two utterly one-sided semi-finals, there was a genuine fear that a damp-squib final would obliterate whatever memories had been created in the previous six weeks. But with the two teams showing the sort of intensity that was on view when India edged past Pakistan at the Wanderers last September, they needn't have worried. The last-ball finish was just a fabulous, heart-stopping bonus.