THIS is sad because Pakistan Cricketing Board had under its chairman Shaharyar M. Khan played the lead role in securing the World Cup 2011 for the sub-continent. And now it has been stripped of the right to host its part - two years ahead of the event. From one of the influential nations in world cricket in till around 2006, we have been reduced to a non-entity, with the PCB's voice carrying absolutely no weight. This fall is steep, and diminution in PCB's stature is amply reflected in the alacrity with which the ICC arrived at this decision, coming as it did on day one of a two-day executive board meeting at Dubai. That means two things: one that nobody cares to even hear Pakistan's version of what security it would have provided. Second, that there is unanimity in the cricketing world that Pakistan is unsalvageable - at least for the foreseeable future. Both reactions should have been expected, for after the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team Pakistan had rendered itself into a pariah, and with great justification because our governments (both federal and provincial), the security apparatus and the PCB all combined had failed to live up to their pledges of providing presidential level security to the reluctant visiting team. So while this remains a self-inflicted woe, PCB's post-attack handling was knee-jerk - of the kind that it earned it animosity of the cricketing world instead of sympathy. And when Chris Broad showed it the mirror by recounting its failure, instead of admitting that it could have done better it unleashed unwanted vitriol on him. This surely would not have been well-received at the ICC. So while lip-service is duly being paid to Pakistan's plight by the powers that be, the fact is that everybody who is anybody in the world cricket is in favour of abandoning this quite remarkable cricketing nation with such undue haste. All said and done, such a judgment was quite expected, But the circumstances not withstanding - and one has to concede that the situation was seriously difficult after the attack on the Sri Lanka team - the PCB should have been a whole lot more prepared, and should have lobbied a great deal better than it apparently did. Had it done so, the rest of the nine may not have voted with one voice to deprive it of its hosting rights. But then you cannot expect this of an organisation that is involved in internal wrangling, and nothing is more indicative of this than the Javed Miandad episode - his hiring, sacking and re-hiring falling in the realm of management most ridiculous. That Pakistan has pushed to the wall is now quite obvious. Also quite clear is that the Indian Board - after drawing every ounce of assistance that it could have from the PCB through the difficult years - has not just abandoned an Asian ally but is actively working to its detriment. What remains to be seen is how the PCB deals with this huge crisis. So far it has not displayed any ability to overcome such hurdles, and this is indeed sad for a nation which despite its limited resources had provided such vision and showed such inventiveness through the 1980s and 1990s by being progenitors of the idea to take the World Cup of England, introducing the concept of neutral umpires and match referees, playing a key role in creating the first continental body that empowered the sub-continent against the hegemony of white nations and having a big hand in the first off-shore cricketing ventures.