What promised to be a difficult tour of Australia for the Pakistan cricket team descended into a rather chaotic and at times embarassing series of events.

Pakistan's track record in Australia didn't inspire too much confidence this time around, but an opponent missing cricketing legends such as Glen McGrath, Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden were seen to be vulnerable and some rather hopeful fans and ex cricketers were even contemplating Pakistan providing a shock result or two.

Played nine and lost nine is a record that the Pakistani cricketers will want to forget in a hurry, but it seems that the Pakistan Cricket Board will not let the players forget the tour down under too quickly, or let them off too easily after the debacle in Australia. According to Ijaz Butt the Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman, the members of the touring party are going to face some awkward questions and uneasy moments in the coming days and weeks, now that they are back in their homeland.

Speaking to PakPassion.net Ijaz Butt stated that the assembled committee will look very closely at events in Australia and report back accordingly. "The committee have been given the task of conducting a thorough, transparent and complete enquiry into what transpired during a disappointing tour of Australia" stated Butt.

The Committee that comprises of Wazir Ali Khoja, Yawar Saeed, Zakir Khan, Tafazzul Rizvi and is headed up by the PCB Chief Operating Officer Wasim Bari will be expected to complete their report by the end of the month according to Ijaz Butt. "We decided to set up the committee, after receiving a number of complaints from the press and the public about the performance of the Pakistan cricket team in Australia. After receiving the complaints we felt it our duty to investigate. I have asked the committee to complete their report by the end of February" stated Butt.

The nature of the complaints against the touring party was something that Butt refused to elaborate upon. "I can't comment on the nature of the complaints at this moment in time, and if proven they will be part of the report" stated Butt when asked about the type of complaints that had been made.

The findings of the committee report could be crucial to the careers and futures of several players and the findings will also according to Butt determine who will captain the Pakistan team in the coming months and possibly years. "Mohammad Yousuf was appointed only as captain for the tour of New Zealand and Australia and Shahid Afridi was of course due to captain the team for the Twenty/20 in Australia, but Shoaib Malik was the replacement captain for that particular match. No decision will be made on long term captaincy issues until the committee have submitted their findings. We need to look at the report before we decide who will captain the team in the future".

Butt commenting on the Shahid Afridi ball tampering incident in the 5th one day international felt that it would be unfair to make a hasty decision on the future chances of Shahid Afridi as captain."I don't really want to say too much regarding the ball tampering incident and let's wait and see what the report has to say before any decisions are made regarding Afridi and the captaincy. As I said, all the captaincy issues will be settled after the committee findings are submitted at the end of this month" added Butt.

This of course is not the first time that a post-tour investigative committee has been assembled by the Pakistan Cricket Board and largely in the past the findings have been nothing more than "hot air". Millions of Pakistani cricket fans await with interest the findings of this committee and the Board's subsequent decisions and statements.

(Article: Copyright © 2010 Pakistan Cricket Board)