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Pakistan's exit from final -Is it tit for tat?
Muttiah Muralitharan and Sri Lanka Cricket(SLC) may have had the last laugh at seeing the reigning Asia Cup champions Pakistan being ejected out of the Asia cup final following India's dramatic win over Sri Lanka in a crucial second round game on Tuesday.

At an important ICC meeting held in London a few weeks ago where Muttiah Muralitharan’s doosra was discussed at length, Sri Lanka Cricket requested the ICC to permit their bowler to bowl the "doosra" until all other bowlers are tested and the tolerance levels re-set.

The proposal by SLC was supported by five countries, but surprisingly Pakistan who was believed to be a close ally of Sri Lanka Cricket was not among the five. As a result the proposal failed to gather the required support in terms of numbers from the ICC member countries and SLC and Muralitharan were asked to shelve the "doosra".

The move by Pakistan not to support Muralitharan and Sri Lanka Cricket came as a big surprise to Sri Lanka and other member countries. The influence of a Pakistani holding a top position within the ICC is believed to be the reason that Pakistan did not support Muralitharan and Sri Lanka Cricket.

On Tuesday, Sri Lanka had to beat India if Pakistan was to earn a place in the Asia cup final. However with Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas not playing due to different reasons, Sri Lanka’s task was a daunting one. The Lankans went down fighting to lose by only four runs.

The Lankan defeat ensured that Pakistan was out of the final and were sent packing home. As an official of Sri Lanka Cricket put it 'the Pakistanis got what they deserved for not supporting Murali and Sri Lanka Cricket'.

Woolmer and the bonus point
Pakistans new coach Bob Woolmer’s comments on the bonus point system will need to be given some thought by the ICC. As indicated by the coach a difference of 60 runs is far too much to deprive the winners of a bonus point.

Twenty to thirty runs should be the norm for a bonus point. But the bonus point system has been around for over a year and has been implemented in earlier tournaments as well. Thus Woolmer’s comments should have come much earlier and not after his side became a victim of the system.

However what was surprising to everyone was why Bob Woolmer and the Pakistan team did not play to achieve that important bonus point against India. It was apparent that the Pakistanis did not play towards restricting India to a total below 240 and getting that bonus point. Only in the last over did Pakistan make a valiant attempt to get the bonus point.

However it was too late. Were the players and Woolmer unaware of this fact? For a coach who was the first to use a laptop computer it is unbelievable to think that the bonus point issue slipped his mind!

India on the other hand played for the bonus point. Mid way in their innings when India realized that chasing 300 for a win was only a dream, they worked their singles and went for the target of 240 to get the bonus point.

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