The Benson & Hedges World Series, as it used to be called back then, was going on and there was this little man with a goatie who would walk out to the crease in a cap and face up to Curtley Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, and Ian Bishop.

For me, Ricky Ponting was the best ODI batsman ever. I am a die hard Inzamam fan, and I have the utmost respect for Sachin Tendulkar, but there are fewer sights in cricket that are better than a free flowing Ricky Ponting.

Ponting has played some unbelievable ODI knocks and his 30 centuries stand second only to Sachin's 48. His 13,700+ runs are also only second to Sachin's tally, and it will probably remain that way for a long time to come.

Here's remembering some of Ponting's best.

Who can forget what Ponting did to the Indians in the World Cup Final in 2003. He single handedly killed India's World Cup dreams in a brutal knock of 140. He remained unbeaten, hit 8 sixes, and destroyed every single Indian bowler. I distinctly remember the onslaught on Zaheer Khan. This is my best Ponting innings in ODIs.

Three years after winning the World Cup, Ponting returned to the Wanderers for an ODI against South Africa. That ODI is popularly known today as the 434 ODI, and it has gone down in history as the highest successful run chase in an ODI. I don't know though if people remember Ponting's exploits in that match. He scored 164 and hit 1 more six than he did against India in 2003 at the same ground. South Africa's successful chase and Gibbs' 175 in the same game took the gloss of Ponting's innings, but what an awesome knock that was. Over a dozen boundaries and nine sixes, Ponting's onslaught was even more brutal than the one he had given India.

It had only been 3 months since I had moved to Lahore in 1998 and I was excited at the prospect of watching my first ever match at the Gaddafi Stadium. Wasim Akram, Aamer Sohail, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, I was going to watch some of my favorite cricketers live. At the end of the first innings, I was extremely pleased with the proceedings; Pakistan had posted 315 and I had just witnessed centuries from Ijaz Ahmed and Mohammad Yousuf (Then Yousuf Yohanna). Even Afridi played a cameo and entertained the crowd. What more could I have asked for from my first LIVE game at the Gaddafi. Ponting had different ideas however, and he made sure that I did not leave a happy man from the ground. Wasim Akram has dismissed Mark Waugh early, which had brought Ponting to the crease. For the next 30 overs, Pakistan could not pick up a wicket as both Gilchrist and Ponting took the bowlers to the cleaners and knocked centuries. Ponting remained unbeaten on 124 in the game and ensured an Australia victory, which seemed unlikely at the end of Pakistan's innings. I can't forget the sight of Ponting thrashing Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar all over the Gaddafi stadium. Akhtar was bowling at 150+ and Ponting was treating him like a school kid!

Half a year had passed since Ponting had massacred the Indians at the Wanderers in the World Cup Final in 2003, but his liking for Zaheer Khan and the Indian attack was apparent yet again in Bangalore at the end of the same year when Ponting smashed an unbeaten 108. The similarity between this match and the World Cup Final earlier in the year was in the result, the score lines, and sixes flying off Ponting's bat all over the ground. Ponting hit seven sixes in this innings and he was once against particularly severe on Zaheer Khan.

In 2009, Ponting became the first ever Australian captain in over a 100 years to lose two successive Ashes series in England. But that did not take away his ability to thrash bowling attacks in ODIs. In the ODI series that followed the Ashes loss, England had posted 299 in one of the ODIs. In response, Ponting produced an amazing counter attack with a knock of 126 at significantly faster than run a ball. I remember him giving a lot of stick to Broad and Bresnan during his innings and it was one of the best ODI run chases I had seen. Not as heartbreaking as the one in Lahore, but just as good.

I hope I do not have to think about my favourite Ponting test innings tomorrow, and that some of his best test knocks are still to come.

Well Pitched was 1 year old.

The Dubai International Cricket Stadium was under construction.

Graeme Swann had not played a test match for England.

No one had heard of Umar Akmal.

Jonathan Trott had not played an ODI nor a Test for England.

Eoin Morgan was playing for Ireland.

Shoaib Malik was the captain of Pakistan.

Anfrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison were key members of the England team.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul was the number 1 ranked test batsman.

For Afghanistan it was a day to show the world what they were capable of against a top ODI nation, and one that has been instrumental in supporting their rise amongst the cricket nations. From the time of Afghan refugees learning the game in Pakistan in the late 70s to now when Afghanistan participates in Pakistan's domestic competitions, Pakistan has been instrumental in helping cricket flourish in the troubled country.

For Pakistan, it was at best a practice match; however the fans, especially the pakhtoons, were left confused about who to support. For them, Afghanistan is their country, but they have been affiliated to Pakistan for so long that for some even that is home.

But that was not the factor causing the confusion amongst the Pakhtoons. It was Shahid Afridi!

As one poster in the ground said "We love Afghanistan. Shahid Afridi lives in our hearts".

A pakhtoon himself, Shahid Afridi has a crazy fan following amongst the pakhtoons. Ironically enough, it was Shahid Afridi who stamped his authority on the Afghanistan batsmen with figures of 5-36.

That is quite an achievement, especially for someone who was mistakenly considered a batsman for a large part of his career.

There is no doubt that Afridi is one of the best, if not the best, ODI bowlers in the world at present. Yet even today there are fans out there who demand centuries from his bat, for reasons I will never understand.

Imagine where Afridi would have been on the list shown above had he always concentrated on his bowling the way he has done in the last five years. Because in the last five years there is only one bowler who has more ODI wickets than Afridi does.

Sharjah has historically been a happy hunting ground for batsmen in ODIs. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have witnessed a number of high scoring draws in the test matches that they have hosted.

But the just concluded test series between Pakistan and England has put to rest all such notions.

Here are some intriguing numbers from the test series, that no one would have expected before the series started.

Not for England anyway!

I can think of several instances.

The World Cup Quarterfinal in Bangalore in 1996. Rashid Latif smashed a straight six and I started hoping that he would do wonders at the crease and Pakistan will go past India's big total. But Pakistan fell short by 30-40 runs.

The test against Australia in Colombo in 2002. Chasing a 300 plus score in the 4th innings, Pakistan ended day 4 on 170 odd for 3 with Younis Khan at the crease. Another 150 odd was required for victory on the final day with 7 wickets in hand. Not an easy task by any measure yet I hoped that Younis along with Faisal Iqbal or Rashid Latif would take us home. But Pakistan fell short by 40 or so runs.

The test against India in Delhi in 1999. We were set an impossible target of 420, but Saeed Anwar and Shahid Afridi had put up a century opening partnership. Pakistan were 100-0 and I was dreaming of a record run chase. Instead the record being made was Kumble taking all 10 Pakistani wickets.

And there are so many other matches in which we dreamt of Inzamam, or Moin Khan, or Shahid Afridi to play that special innings that would lead Pakistan to a magical successful run chase.

So when England's fans and even Graeme Swann were dreaming yesterday of a mega opening partnership between Strauss and Cook, or of a dream innings from Matt Prior, it felt really good to be on the other side of the fence!

We knew it was not going to happen.

We knew how many times we wanted that from Pakistan's batsmen and they failed us.

We knew that it was all but a dream for the England fans.

We knew that a Pakistani win was just round the corner.

We knew, didn't we?

Finally, Pakistani fans are on the other side!

How can someone be so patient? How can someone have so much concentration for so long?

It is unbelievable that someone like Azhar Ali exists during times where every kid in Pakistan aspires to be a Shahid Afridi; where there are test batsmen like Virender Sehwag and David Warner; and where the influence of Twenty20 cricket has almost destroyed the art of good old traditional test match batting.

Azhar Ali took 319 deliveries to reach his second test century on the third day of the final Pakistan vs England test. And he faced a total of 442 deliveries for his test best 157.

He ran for 111 of those runs!

England's target of 324 would have been a lot less had Azhar had not played this knock. Sure. But then is it really that good a knock?

Is scoring at a strike rate of 35.5 really good for the team?

If you are looking to save a test match and play for a draw then it most definitely is. But when you are in control of the match and can actually dictate terms, does a strike rate of 35.5 make sense?

I can hear the majority of you say, yes it does!

But then I think that even if Azhar had scored at a strike rate of 50, which is still slow but seems reasonable for a test match innings, he would have had a double hundred to his name today and Pakistan would have set England an unreachable target of close to 400.

That is the difference that controlled aggression can make.

I am not saying that there is no merit in playing a long test innings, nor am I taking any credit away from Azhar Ali.

All that I am saying is that if one has been out there for 442 deliveries, then he is probably seeing the ball like a panda sized football and there is no reason why he can't show a bit more aggression.

Where Azhar Ali has shown everyone the importance of patience for a batsman, Shahid Afridi has shown all of us what a lack of patience does! Where Azhar's natural reaction is a forward defensive, Afridi's natural reaction is a hoike for 6!

During Azhar's gritty knock, Farees (follow him on twitter) wondered whether Afridi had faced that many balls during an entire year of ODI cricket.

Here are some numbers to ponder about...

442 the number of deliveries Azhar Ali faced over two days of test cricket for his 157.

363 the number of deliveries Shahid Afridi faced in 22 ODIs during the year 2011.

3 the number of sixes Azhar Ali has hit in 39 test innings to date.

11 the number of sixes Shahid Afridi hit in his first ever international innings.

3920 the number of deliveries Azhar Ali has faced in his short test career to date. That is 65% of the deliveries (6039) Shahid Afridi has faced in 310 ODI innings.

384 the number of runs Shahid Afridi would have scored if he faced 442 deliveries in a test innings.

100 the number of deliveries Azhar Ali averages per test innings.

114 the strike rate Shahid Afridi scores at in ODIs.

38.5 the strike rate at which Azhar Ali has scored during his test career. Afridi scored his test runs at a strike rate that was 2.25 times faster.

1770 the number of runs Shahid Afridi has scored through sixes in ODI cricket. That's more than the 1511 runs Azhar Ali has scored in total in 39 test innings.

These numbers are just for fun really. The more pertinent question is that does it really help Pakistan if Azhar Ali continues to score at a strike rate of 35?

Maybe if Pakistan had five other stroke makers in the top six then having one Azhar Ali would not be too much of a problem. But right now, Pakistan have at least three batsmen that score at around 30 runs per 100 balls.

I'm just waiting to see when these batsmen become more confident about their game and bring in controlled aggression. Occupying the crease is good, but we would really like to see some runs as well!

So the Pakistan vs England test series has finally witnessed a century, and it had to come from one of the most reliable batsmen out there - Younis Khan.

I had been waiting for a Younis Khan century throughout the series and he finally did it today. The most satisfying bit for me about this century was that I called it yesterday and I was there at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium to witness it.

What a knock Younis played.

He and Azhar Ali have all but batted England out of the game. I reckon the 180 lead that Pakistan have right now is more than enough to give Pakistan the whitewash that they have been dreaming of.

Think about it. Out of the 5 England innings so far in this series, they have crossed 200 only once. And I doubt they will do it again.

At this stage of his career, no one besides Rahul Dravid had more runs than Younis Khan did. There is a big difference between the averages of Younis and the rest, however after 76 tests Ponting had the same number of test centuries as Younis does now, with only Sachin ahead of the pack.

Yet, we still salute the true King Khan - Younis Khan!