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In one of my many conversations on facebook, I mentioned that Australia had been outplayed by Pakistan during the home series held in England.

One of my Pro-Australian friends differed and said that the statement was true if only I had added "given the amount of test cricket Pakistan had played against quality opposition".

Fair enough I thought.

My statement was based on the fact that the tour results show 3 wins for Pakistan and 1 for Australia.

So surely Pakistan were the better team winning the T20 series 2-0 and drawing the test series 1-1.

So then, were Australia outplayed?

I dug into some statistics relating to the two tests; yes the series was drawn but a comparison of player to player performances shows a startling revelation.

Pakistan's top 6 batsmen scored more runs than Australia's; the difference is almost a 100 runs with the Pakistanis averaging 28.6 per batsman per innings, 4 runs more than the Aussies.

Salman Butt was the top scorer in the series and the only batsman on both sides to average over 50.

Now that is some statistic considering that the series involved the likes of Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, and Simon Katich!

The difference between the top order batsmen is even more glaring with the Pakistani top 3 - Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, and Azhar Ali - scoring 150 more runs in 4 innings than their Aussie counterparts - Simon Katich, Shane Watson, and Ricky Ponting.

The opening partnerships show the difference between the starts that both the teams got in the 4 innings they played. While the Salman and Imran averaged 42 per innings as a pair, Katich and Watson averaged only 26.

The biggest difference between the two teams, however, is in the bowling performances.

The Pakistan trio of Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Asif, and Umar Gul accounted for 30 of the 40 Australian wickets to fall during the test series. They tormented the Aussies at the crease and they have the statistics to show for it!

An average of just under 23 among the 3 of them and a strike rate of 42.9; the Pakistanis picked up an Australian wicket almost every 7th over.

In comparison, the Aussie trio of Doug Bollinger, Ben Hilfenhaus, and Mitchell Johnson did so every 10 overs. Australia's pace battery could manage only 16 wickets over the 2 tests - a stark difference to what their Pakistani counterparts managed.

Shane Watson was the best bowler on both sides picking up as many wickets as Aamer and Asif; however at a much cheaper rate.

But the problem with Australia lied in the fact that their top 3 pacers could not do what the Pakistanis could - pick wickets up at regular intervals.

So then, were the Australians outplayed during the test series or not?

Such problems have existed for almost 3 decades. Maybe even more but I don't know much about era prior to the 80s.

Waqar Younis has termed the current ego clashes in the dressing room as the worst crisis to hit Pakistan cricket in over 3 decades.

I beg to differ.

Waqar has probably forgotten the rebellion he led against Wasim Akram in 1993-94.

Even before that there were 2 rebellions against Javed Miandad; first in 1981-82 when senior players refused to play under him and it resulted in Imran Khan getting the captaincy.

A decade later, after Imran retired, Javed Miandad faced similar circumstances with this time the junior players like Wasim, Waqar, Saleem Malik, Rameez Raja and others refused to play under Miandad.

Wasim Akram got the captaincy then in 1993-94 and soon after a couple of tours the entire team rebelled against him.

The decade after that saw Pakistan change captains faster than people change their clothes with all senior players getting a stint.

Saleem Malik, Rameez Raja, Aamer Sohail, Saeed Anwar, Moin Khan, Waqar Younis and Rashid Latif - all of them! - captained the side during this time with Wasim Akram regaining it 3 times during the period.

The first stable captain that Pakistan got after Imran Khan was Inzamam ul Haq, whose stint lasted almost 4 years.

The two common things about both the stints was that Imran and Inzamam had teams with players of their choices.

Both were dictators of different kinds; most importantly both had the respect of all the players.

Younis Khan was a stable vice captain under Inzamam and he was expected to take over once Inzamam hung up the boots.

However, when that happened after a troubled World Cup campaign in 2007, Younis Khan not only turned the captaincy down, he ditched Pakistan and refused to even play.

For me that is when the problems started.

The PCB named Shoaib Malik the captain and with several senior players like Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi, and Abdul Razzaq in the team, it was never going to be pretty.

The senior players never wanted to play under a junior captain, particularly Malik who was not even a regular test player at the time.

Had Younis Khan accepted the captaincy after the 2007 World Cup, Pakistan could have avoided all the problems that it has faced over the last few years.

Younis was well respected; he had filled in for Inzamam on several occasions and demonstrated good authority; he was the leader that everyone had accepted.

And most probably he would have still been captain today.

Younis Khan eventually took over as captain when the PCB finally succumbed to player power and removed Malik from the post.

As expected, Younis had a tremendous start to his captaincy stint. He managed a triple century in his first test after being named captain, and soon after he led Pakistan to the World T20 title in 2009.

What more could Pakistan have asked for - a new captain, a committed team, and a world trophy.

But Younis Khan once again decided to create problems by announcing his retirement from T20 cricket, resulting in Shahid Afridi taking over the captaincy of the format.

And soon after that, the entire team for reasons best known to them, decided that they had had enough of Younis Khan as captain.

The man had just led the nation to a world cup triumph and now after a few losses the team didn't want him as their leader.

Younis Khan is such a troubled personality that I don't think it was the team's fault.

He's refused captaincy more than once; he's retired after managing to unite the team and winning a world trophy; who knows what he was up to when the players lost faith in him!

Mohammad Yousuf's stint after that is well documented in the form of PCB committee meeting recordings and court cases and what not.

And finally Pakistan had gone to the man who was always a natural leader - Shahid Afridi.

But even he decided to retire from test cricket.

Many blame Ijaz Butt for the problems that Pakistan are facing; many have blamed Nasim Ashraf; while some former players are now blaming Shahid Afridi.

What about Younis Khan who has ditched the team more than once?

The one man who could have marshalled Pakistan's players over the last 3 years just didn't have it in him to maintain his authority.

He was weak!

Had he put his hand up in the first place and taken charge, Pakistan would not have had 5 different captains since 2007.

They would have had one and probably the best one possible.

I blame Younis Khan for the all the problems that Pakistan have faced in recent times!

Pakistan feel more at home in T20 and ODI cricket; they are not a strong test team.

However a year ago, a 19 year old boy made his debut for Pakistan and immediately made a stunning impact. Over the last year, Umar Akmal, has shown the world that he can single handedly take the game away from the opposition.

He has been the anchor of Pakistan's batting line up, he has been the aggressor, he has been the accumulator, and he has been the backbone all in one!

I haven't seen a Pakistani batsman make such an impact in international cricket since 1991 when a 21 year old Inzamam Ul Haq made his debut.

Such is the extent of Umar's talent that Waqar Younis has hailed him as the most talented cricketer he has seen in the last 15-20 years!

That is quite a bold statement given the number of talented cricketers that Australia, Pakistan, India, and other teams have produced over the last 2 decades.

There are so many that I can't even begin to list them here.

So how good is Umar Akmal really?

A test century on debut, a fifty in his second ODI and a hundred in his third, an average nearing 50 in tests and nearing 40 in ODIs, a number of match winning innings in limited overs cricket, and over 500 runs in both formats of the game.

All this and he's been around for only a year. A year that can be described as possibly Pakistan's worst year in international cricket.

Very few batsmen attack the ball the way he does; and very few batsmen are at such ease at the crease as Umar is.

In my mind the five modern day batsmen that have had a significant impact on the game, in both tests and ODIs, are Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis, and Inzamam Ul Haq.

All of them have had distinguished careers, while some of them are still going strong.

Its not right to place Umar Akmal in the same category as these great batsmen, but the way he has played over the last one year, I have no doubt that Umar will go on to become one of the greatest batsmen of his time.

The table below shows how the launch of Umar's test career compares with that of the modern day greats of the world.

Sachin, Kallis, and Inzamam had relatively slow starts to their test careers. Umar's initial record is quite similar to Brian Lara's; and even though the data set is too small to make a judgement, the similarity between Umar's strokeplay and Lara's is quite apparent.

Both play fearless cricket and attack the bowlers confidently. Umar's confidence was clear when he took on Australia in Australia late last year.

Only Lara scored more, only slightly, than Umar has in his first 12 innings at the test level.

While in ODIs, Umar has scored more runs in his first 18 innings, than Sachin, Kallis, Ponting, and Lara did. Only Inzamam, whom Umar has comfortably replaced in Pakistan's batting line up, scored more in the first 18 ODI innings.

Surprisingly, Kallis also had a bright start to his ODI career with him averaging above 40 in his first 18 innings.

All of these men went on to become exceptional batsmen; only time will tell if Umar can match up to them.

So far all signs show that he can and he will. I haven't seen any weaknesses that bowlers can exploit; every time he has lost his wicket, it has been due to playing an aggressive stroke.

I doubt Umar's aggression will ever decrease; Lara batted aggressively till his last day on the field, while Ponting does so even now. Umar seems to be in the same mould.

As he matures and gains experience, some of his rash strokes will decrease naturally making him into an even more dangerous batsman.

Umar has a long road ahead of him and as long as he can remain disciplined, I believe he will go down in history as one of the best batsmen to play for Pakistan.

Maybe even in the world.

Despite the 2-0 whitewash of the Australians in the T20 series just concluded in England, which by the way feels extremely good, Pakistan has had a torrid year or two of cricket.

Yes there was the World T20 win last year but besides that the team has generally gone through a very turbulent period.

Amidst all the negatives, Pakistan has shown the world a glimpse of the future of their cricket in the form of Mohammad Aamer and Umar Akmal.

I haven't written much about both the talent powerhouses since their rise in international cricket has coincided with my fall in the blogging world, but I feel now is probably the right time to start bragging about these two youngsters.

They've been around for a year now and they have made such an impact that the world is taking notice.

Aamer is the future of Pakistan's bowling attack and he is already being compared to Wasim Akram, arguably the best fast bowler to play international cricket.

While Umar Akmal is already the backbone of Pakistan's batting line up. He attacks, he consolidates, he drops anchor, he smashes the opposition apart, he does it all. And boy can he bat!

After Pakistan's first T20 win over Australia at Birmingham, Rameez Raja made an interesting comment. When Ian Ward compared Aamer to Wasim Akram, Rameez said at 18 years of age, Aamer was far ahead of what Wasim was when he was 18.

Quite a bold statement from Rameez!

Aamer is probably a couple of years older than his "official" age of 18, but for the sake of argument lets assume he is 18.

Rameez's statement means that Aamer is far better than Wasim was when he started off in international cricket.

I didn't watch Wasim Akram till the late 80s so I can't really compare the two at the start of their international careers, but I dug out some stats to check on how they both fare head to head.

Aamer has played 8 test matches and 15 ODIs for Pakistan, and his figures in tests are not much to write home about.

He has taken 21 wickets at an average of 42.38 and has one 5 wicket haul. His wickets have not come cheaply in the tests he has played against Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and Australia.

Wasim Akram started his test career against similar opposition playing his first 8 tests against Sri Lanka and New Zealand; and in only his 2nd test he managed a 10 wicket haul against the Kiwis.

Wasim Akram took 7 more wickets than Aamer did in his first 8 tests and at a far better average than Pakistan's young new left armer.

Aamer is talented; he is Pakistan's future; but he is no Wasim Akram.

Not yet anyway.

In ODIs, on the other hand, Aamer has made his presence felt.

25 wickets in 15 matches at an average of 24.00 and an economy rate of under 5 are figures of a world class pacer. His strike rate of 31.5 is also up there among the best in the world.

The economy rate of 4.56 speaks volumes of Aamer's control over the new white ball. In modern times when all batsmen go for leather like hungry sharks during the power plays, maintaining an economy rate of under 5 is a remarkable achievement.

Even more so for a young fast bowler playing in only his first few international matches.

Compare those stats to Wasim Akram, and we see Aamer in a different light.

Wasim managed only 17 wickets in his first 15 ODIs at a slightly higher average and a considerably higher strike rate.

So is Aamer more talented than Wasim Akram was in his youth?

I can't really say. But Wasim Akram ended his career as one of the best fast bowlers of all time and safely as the best left arm fast bowler ever to play the game.

Can Aamer reach that status?

If he comes close, he would have had an awesome career and I can't wait for that to unfold in front of my eyes.

They have finally beaten Australia. Moreover, Afridi the captain has an important victory under his belt.

Pakistan needed this win more than anything in this world.

After the 12 successive losses to Australia since last year and the close losses to India and Sri Lanka during the Asia Cup, Pakistan needed a win to kick start their marathon tour of England.

And they did it.

Umar Gul was the difference between the win at Birmingham and the loss at St. Lucia in the semi final of the World T20.

The wounds of that semi final were still fresh in my mind, and I'm sure in the minds of all Pakistani fans, when Australia needed 50 runs of the last 5 overs with Michael Hussey at the crease.

He could have done it again I thought.

Lightning did strike but this time the strike came from Umar Gul!

That was some delivery to get rid off Mike Hussey and the Aussie hopes.

Boy was Gul missed during the World T20. And what a difference he made yesterday.

Afridi in his post match conference said that he had been waiting for this win for a long time and hopefully it will go a long way in defining Pakistan's attitude under his leadership.

The team looked committed and united; they played with a lot of spirit and were sharp in the field.

Nasser Hussain said it best when he described the catches held by Afridi. They weren't great catches but the celebrations lifted the entire team. Bear in mind, from Pakistan's perspective, the catches were really great catches.

And they surely lifted the team.

The confidence that this win gives Pakistan will do them a lot of good. A confident Pakistan is a really dangerous side and they've been looking for this win for a long time.

A dangerous Pakistan can do wonders in the field and the next 3 months will be very entertaining from a cricket perspective if Pakistan remains confident.

And Afridi is just the right man to keep Pakistan's confidence levels high!

Winning is a habit and so is losing; Pakistan has for a long time been at the losing end. Going all the way back to the controversy hit tour to Australia, Pakistan have won very little.

Considering this, the 3 T20 wins against MCC, Essex, and Northamptonshire and the draw against Kent, in which many of the batsmen hit form was just the tonic Pakistan required to be in a positive frame of mind for this tour.

It is such a long tour that it can make or break many careers over the next 3 months. With 6 test matches, 5 ODIs, and 4 T20s, Pakistan face a stern test from Australia and England, both of whom are arguably amongst the top three sides in world cricket today across all formats.

Their first real test comes today when they face Australia in the first of two T20s.

Pakistan has lost the last 12 international matches against them with the last one being the epic semi final of the World T20.

The Aussies definitely have the edge, but Pakistan should feel at home in a T20 game. They have a better record in the format despite the recent losses, and majority of their players are better suited to this version of cricket.

A win can go a long way in providing Pakistan with the confidence they require to compete against the Aussies in the 2 tests that will follow the T20s.

Losses, on the other hand, can be way too detrimental.

Pakistan is expected to field at least two debutants in their middle order for the test matches. While Shahid Afridi will return to the format after 4 years. This indicates how fragile Pakistan's top 6 will be against the likes of Johnson and Co. when the first test gets underway in about a week.

In light of this, it is imperative that the likes of Shahid Afridi, Salman Butt, Shoaib Malik, and the Akmal brothers get some runs under their belts during the two T20s against the Aussies.

Wins and runs for these batsmen will enable Pakistan to go into the test matches with confidence.

Afridi has repeatedly spoken about playing positive and aggressive cricket, and I guess that is the only way Pakistan stands a chance against Australia and England over the summer.

Pakistan will do well if they draw a few of the tests and win some of the ODIs and T20s. Series wins in ODIs and T20s will even be better but they cannot be expected at this stage.

Pakistani fans are generally irrational and expect miracles every time the team steps on the playing field.

I urge all fans not to expect much and just support the team. Its a young team under a new captain; the selectors and the team management have made a bold move by leaving senior players out and blooding several new youngsters.

The seniors were not bringing in the results and we all complained. And now we cannot expect the youngsters to turn things around immediately.

It will take time and Pakistan have initiated this turnaround process at just about the right time keeping the World Cup in mind.

And for the World Cup, it is extremely important if Afridi is at the helm, which will only be possible if the PCB, media, and the fans don't go ballistic over the team losing to the likes of Australia and England.

The journey begins today and we can only support and hope for a fairy tale ending.