Flab-ulous: Shoaib Akhtar © Associated Press

Just as his chances of making the national team were getting slimmer, Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has undergone liposuction to remove excess fat from his body. The 34-year-old has not played a Test in more than two years, and the latest move is part of his efforts to end the fitness troubles and injury woes that have severely hampered his career.

"After the liposuction to trim down his weight, Shoaib will require at least three to four months to make a complete recovery and be available to play competitive cricket once again," Dr Waqar Ahmed, a sports medicine specialist, told Pakistan daily Dawn.

After the surgery Shoaib is going to be lighter in the pocket as well, since the PCB refused to foot his burgeoning medical bills. "He is a centrally contracted player and he is supposed to consult our medical panel and inform us before undergoing any medical treatment but he didn't do this before opting for the liposuction," a PCB official said.

	Pakistan players play football during training © AFP

Younis had invited Pakistan’s football coach, George Kottan, to a cricket camp ahead of the Champions Trophy and said Kottan was impressed with the quality of football at the camp - four or five cricketers were, he said, excellent football players. “I believe that football is a true global sport. Almost every kid plays it no matter where he lives,” Younis said. He also wants his son to take up squash - where Pakistan has a more celebrated history - and not cricket as a career. "We have won so many laurels in squash in the past and it's a pity that we are no more the champions,” Younis told Geo TV. “I would ask my countrymen to encourage their children to take up games like squash, hockey and football. As for myself, I would love to see my son become a world squash champion.”

Naming streets after cricketers seems to be the latest way of recognising their achievements. Four months after Shivnarine Chanderpaul Drive, comes Umar Gul road. To acknowledge Gul's brilliant performance in the World Twenty20, the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) ministry for sports, culture and tourism in Pakistan has inaugurated a road in his name.The inauguration ceremony was held at the Peshawar Cantonment, in his hometown on Tuesday, and was attended by many, including Gul's family members. No word yet though on the speed limits...

When Shahid Afridi walked out to bat for the first time in a one-day international, against Sri Lanka in Nairobi in 1996, the bat in his hands once belonged to someone who had played many memorable innings, and several of them against Pakistan. It had belonged to Sachin Tendulkar and found its way to Afridi via Waqar Younis, who said “it could prove lucky as it belonged to a great player”. It was lucky indeed for Afridi reeled off the fastest ODI century off 37 balls, a record that still stands.

“Waqar gave me the bat in Nairobi where I made my debut for Pakistan. He told me Tendulkar had given him the bat and asked him to make similar model bats from Sialkot,” Afridi told PTI. “That record [fastest hundred] still stands today and makes me proud. I also got other good scores with this particular bat so it is very valuable for me and I have no intention to auction it off to anyone.”

Mohammad Zahid and Aamer Nazir. When they appeared on the scene for Pakistan in the 1990s, it sent everyone scurrying to find out their antecedents. Not much was discovered about either of them, except that they impressed Wasim Akram despite not much first-class experience.

Now, like a bolt from the the blue, comes the spotting of a 7'2" fast bowler from Multan who has former Pakistan fast bowler Aaqib Javed excited. At 6'8", Joel Garner and Bruce Reid were the tallest fast bowlers to play international cricket, but Mohammad Irfan is reportedly something else.

"I spent the whole day thinking to myself that we might have something really special here," Aaqib told PakPassion.com. "At the moment he has no clue about what he's trying to do, but we can teach him that stuff at the [Pakistan] academy."

Irfan, 21, has apparently never even played a proper game of cricket. Aaqib wants Irfan to "pack his bags and come straight back" because he is keen to get cracking on improving Irfan's mental and physical fitness. It may take some serious work, too. For someone that tall, even landing a ball on a length could turn out to be a bouncer to the man down the other end of the pitch.

Zahid and Nazir faded away but this one, he could be something big. If Irfan plays international cricket, the headline writers could have a field day - "His Highness" ... "Mount Irfan" ... Much fun.

Even Javed Miandad’s most enthusiastic supporters would struggle to pretend that diplomacy is one of his strengths. Nevertheless, the nation’s favourite pugilist will shortly be given the chance to practice his dialogue with a global superpower, when he heads to China as a cricket ambassador, at the behest of the Pakistan Sports Ministry.

The fall-out from Javed’s latest acrimonious split with the Pakistan Cricket Board has barely settled – he squared up to the board chairman, Ijaz Butt, at a senate hearing earlier this week, following his abrupt resignation as director-general in January, after only a month in the role. But none of that matters to the sports secretary, Ashraf Khan, who regards Javed as the perfect man to take cricket across the Karakorum Highway.

“It will be an exploratory tour for Miandad which runs between March 9 and 15," Khan told reporters. "China did very well in the last Olympics and you can't underestimate their talent in any sport. We do hope that Miandad will assist them in improving their cricketing skills."

Miandad’s appointment was rubber-stamped by the Pakistan president, Asif Ali Zardari, who is also the patron-in-chief of the PCB. "I have no doubt that they could excel in the field of cricket,” said Miandad, “like they did in other sports.”

It could be the global financial crunch, or just plain ol' fashioned occupation of the higher ground but having come across multi-million dollar/rupee defamation cases, Shafqat Naghmi's decision to sue PCB chairman Ijaz Butt for damages worth one Pakistan rupee (approximately US$0.012581) is worth nothing. Naghmi, a former chief operating officer of the board, is taking Butt and other officials to court for levelling charges of financial mismanagement against him.

Turns out, it is neither morality or recession. “I will claim a public apology from them and one rupee in damages to show these people what I think they are worth,” Naghmi told the News, which is, in the world of Pakistan cricket, a pretty sharp insult. “This board does not deserve to remain in power. They don’t know what they are doing. The defamation suit is meant to expose them before the public,” Naghmi said.

Given the unusual nature of the case, Naghmi's one buck could well be a million dollars for memorabilia addicts.