Pakistan were routed by Australia. The one-sidedness of the tussle between the world-beaters and a richly talented side has left people from all over the cricketing world, Australia apart, wondering and pondering. The question is 'if' rather than 'how' Ponting and his men can be stopped.

Pakistani cricket is in the doldrums. It's supporters will of course cry hoarse and argue that as every other team, India apart, has suffered this fate ever since Steve Waugh's Dominators began their victorious procession at Harare in October 1999, it will be wrong to single out Inzamam-ul-Haq and his team. While this view is justified to a certain extent, it cannot be denied that Bob Woolmer's boys have a lot of work to do before they can be compared to the Pakistani teams of the late 1980s, forget the other great sides in the game's history. More than their double-digit capitulation at Perth and certainly more than their four-day losses at Melbourne and Sydney, if there was one piece of evidence that confirmed the perilous state of Pakistani cricket, it was the surrender to Stuart MacGill on day one of the Sydney Test. MacGill must have been under some pressure after a long spell in the wilderness. He must have been pleasantly surprised at the 'warm welcome' he got from his opponents!

The inability of the Pakistani batsmen to reply to the questions posed by MacGill has finally laid to rest one of the all-time cricketing myths - that 'Asian' batsmen play spin very well. As stated above, Warne belongs to a different class, and it wouldn't have been wise to declare the Pakistani batsmen as hopeless against spin on the basis of his peerless performances against Pakistan, including that magical spell in the 1999 World Cup final. But MacGill, for all his gifts, is no Warne. Much has been said and written about Woolmer's 'revolutionary' coaching methods. However, it has to be said that the man who made the laptop an important cricketing accessory was not successful in persuading his wards to watch CDs of India's tour of Australia last year, and observe how Messrs Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman took MacGill apart.

Inzamam's back injury was a big blow to a beleaguered side. In his absence, Youhana led the side capably, and his hundred at Melbourne must rank as one of the best overseas hundreds by a Pakistani batsman. Younis Khan also had some good outings. Salman Butt, who excelled with 70 at Melbourne and scored an impressive maiden Test hundred at Sydney, has passed the toughest cricketing examination and looks destined for greater things. Sadly, these achievements were overshadowed by another 'Shoaib Akhtar controversy', which has become an almost mandatory feature of every major series featuring Pakistan. Glenn McGrath called him a 'showman', Ponting and Langer expressed their surprise at his 'lack of effort' when the hosts needed only 126 to win in Melbourne, and Shoaib called himself an 'aeroplane'. Woolmer wanted him to reduce his run-up, Shoaib refused, and found support in Sarfraz Nawaz, from whom he might well have taken tips on the art of blowing hot air and generally wasting everyone's time. And what to say of the Australians? Martyn, Ponting, Hayden, Langer and that man Adam Gilchrist, all made runs. McGrath achieved his best figures in Test cricket at Perth, Gillespie was hostile with the ball and, ahem, proficient with the bat, Warne was on the spot most of the time and MacGill made a successful comeback.

The Pakistani team is down and out. But then, their next Test series is against India. Many a Pakistani cricketer has stated how problems are forgotten, negative thoughts discarded against the 'old enemy'. The next couple of months will either see a crushing victory for the Indians, or one of the most sensational turnarounds in the history of the sport. In Pakistani cricket, there can only be one extreme or the other. The middle path, they do not know.