The first insult was New Zealand's refusal to visit. They were scheduled to play in Pakistan in late 2001, but they backed out, citing security concerns. It left Pakistani fans and administrators confused and hurt, because at the time there was no demonstrable threat. Pakistan's only sin was to exist in the same neighbourhood as Afghanistan, but it was enough to make us a hot potato nobody wanted to touch.

India had already backed out of a tour to Pakistan in the wake of Kargil. After New Zealand's refusal, West Indies too backed out and insisted on playing Pakistan on neutral territory. By 2002, the shock of 9/11 had abated, and New Zealand were finally persuaded to visit Pakistan. But on the morning of the second Test, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the team's hotel in Karachi. The target was a naval delegation from France staying at a hotel across the street, but the players were close to the blast and some had their windows blown out. The match was abandoned and the New Zealand team quickly flew out of Pakistan. Australia, due to tour later in the year, played Pakistan in Colombo and Sharjah instead.

The following year, international cricket did return to Pakistan, when Bangladesh and South Africa visited in late 2003. Pakistan won both contests, then travelled to New Zealand and won the series as well. The prevailing mood became upbeat and circumstances felt more settled and promising than they had in a long time. In March 2004, then PCB Chairman Shaharyar Khan used his considerable diplomatic skills to bring India over. Pakistan lost the Test series 2-1, but it left a reassuring aftertaste suggesting that good cricketing times were back.

Indeed, good times duly followed. Inzamamul Haq was captain and Bob Woolmer had been appointed coach. Although Pakistan were trounced in Australia, they drew 1-1 in India, 1-1 in West Indies, defeated both England and India in back-to-back series at home, and then won an away Test rubber in Sri Lanka in the spring of 2006. If there was a cricketing peak to this decade, this was certainly it. But, unknown to everyone at the time, mayhem was about to follow.

In the summer of 2006, umpire Darrell Hair penalised Pakistan for ball-tampering during a Test at the Oval, and things have never been the same. That controversy was the apparent trigger for a dark and uncertain era that continues to hobble Pakistan cricket to this day. Ever since that fateful moment, the standards differentiating mere controversies from a full-blown crisis in Pakistan have been twisted into a new extreme, with the team lurching like a loping drunkard from one misstep to another. That forfeited Oval Test match was followed by shameful doping revelations, a shockingly early World Cup exit, and the death of Coach Bob Woolmer in mysterious circumstances. Finally, on March 3 last year, the whole enterprise nearly keeled over when terrorists outside Gaddafi Stadium shot at the visiting Sri Lankan team with automatic weapons. Even the unimaginable had materialised.

As if the demons of politics and terrorism were not enough, the team has also bled copious talent during this decade in the form of retiring heroes. Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Saeed Anwar, Rashid Latif, Moin Khan and Inzamamul Haq all retired within the 2000s. New talent has been blooded in but, apart from the world-class batsman Younis Khan who made his debut in early 2000, the others are still finding their feet.

It speaks to the unique fibre of Pakistan cricket that through all the chaos and adversity, it has still managed to attain a respectable record, and even secured a world title in the form of the Twenty20 championship in England last summer. Decade-by-decade analysis reveals that the last 10 years have been Pakistan's second-most successful decade in terms of ODIs, and the third-most successful in terms of Tests.

Pakistan began playing Test cricket in 1952 and achieved a win-loss ratio of 0.88 (eight wins to nine losses) through the 1950s. This dropped to 0.25 in the 1960s, picked up to 0.81 in the 1970s and peaked in the 1980s at 1.76 (23 wins to 13 losses) — a decade immortalised by legendary figures like Imran Khan and Javed Miandad. The 1990s saw Pakistan's win-loss ratio dip to 1.52 and during the past decade, Pakistan's win-loss ratio has been precisely 1.00, with 30 wins and an equal number of defeats.

In ODIs, Pakistan played its first match in 1973, and the ODI win-loss ratio during the 1970s was only 0.66, which improved to 0.97 in the 1980s. During the 1990s, Pakistan's ODI abilities came into their own, with a win-loss ratio of 1.39 (146 wins to 105 losses), which has more or less held up during the last 10 years for a ratio of 1.36, with 151 wins to 111 losses.

Pakistan's top three run scorers this decade in both Tests and ODIs were Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan, and Inzamamul Haq, who also accounted for all of Pakistan's seven Test scores of 200 plus, including a triple-hundred each from Inzamam and Younis, and four double-hundreds from Mohammad Yousuf. In bowling, Danish Kaneria took the most Test wickets (245), followed by Shoaib Akhter (144) and Saqlain Mushtaq (101), while Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Akhter were the leading ODI bowlers, with 214, 211, and 174 wickets respectively.

The future of Pakistan cricket is bright as long as the team somehow continues to win. With victories here and there, Pakistan will preserve a healthy self-esteem and be well-positioned to blossom once again when the storm clouds are finally lifted.