Charles Dickens famous quip from his epic Novel "The Tell of Two Cities"- "It was the best of the time, it was the worst of the time" couldn't be more prophetic. It rings a bell when I look at the recent performance of  Pakistan's cricket team. Those from my generation have seen the best of the times of Pakistani cricket at its pinnacle in the 1980s and 1990s. Now we are seeing the worst of the times as the country's cricket has hit the rock bottom, with a series of losses at home from a whitewash by Bangladesh, followed by a humiliating defeat by visiting English team even after scoring 500 plus in the first innings.

It's famed fast bowling attack looks pedestal and batsmen inconsistent and at best average. 

Never before I saw Pakistan cricket in such a state of doldrum. Well, they have a reputation of dressing room infights and internal bickerings in open, often ending in fisticuffs. In 1981-82 about 8-9 cricketers, most of them senior players refusing to play under a rookie Captain 24 year old Javed Miandad. History repeated itself in 1993 when almost similar number of players refused to play under a young and arrogant Wasim Akram. But such skirmishes were more like flash in a pan, rarely impacted the performance of the team as a whole. 

They had the best of the times for decades seen by our generation who followed cricket from 1970s. It was the ebulient, charismatic leadership of Imran Khan which brought the best out of the Pakistani team as under his leadership the team managed to defeat England in England, India in India and win the coveted 50 overs World Cup in 1992. 

The current situation is worst of its time. The rot started when a series of Pakistani players were accused of match fixing, some even caught red handed on camera fixing matches with bookies. Being unpredictable was the quintessential sine qua non akways associated with the Pakistani team whose performance has a history of swinging like pendulum. One day they would play like a world campion, the next day they will look like club cricketers on steroids. But they have become very predictable these days. The once almost invincible at home Pakistani cricket team led by fast bowlers like Imran Khan & Sarfraz Nawaz, Wasim Abram and Waqar Younis who used to hunt in pairs, they have become immensely predictable these days by losing to pretty average if not ordinary sides. 

These days the extremely competitive modern sports talent isn't just enough. You need infrastructure, coaching and money to polish your skills and takent, taking it to the next level. Talent can get you only to certain extent. Professional teams like India and Australia have judiciously invested time and money with results showing on the ground. On the other hand, Pakistan still has a long way to catch up as far as professionalism goes. Unless they arrest their current state of decline and put their house in order they could very well end up like Zimbabwe and West Indies. Pakistan has earned a lot of bad Karma due to its flawed policies. Karma is a bitch, it bites hard.