As I looked to my left out of the Headingley press box shortly after the end of the first Test between England and Pakistan, one sight that caught my eye was the lack of Pakistan fans waiting to take pictures with their heroes and grab autographs.
I’ve been to Headingley many times and, win, lose or draw, the cricket-mad Pakistan support has been passionate and extremely vocal, but not on this occasion.
For a nation whose supporters have often been one of its greatest strengths, the absence of green shirts and flags throughout the match was difficult to ignore and displayed clear signs that Pakistan cricket has lost many of its fans, not just at home but also abroad.
Expectations have become so low that most matches are seen as an inevitable defeat. Things have become so bad that Pakistan have lost their last four Test matches against Bangladesh. The team have become a laughing stock in all formats.
What is clear is that Pakistan cricket is not helping itself, with flawed planning and badly thought-out decisions coming from a hierarchy that is probably the least popular in its topsy-turvy cricketing history.
