To say that the lead-up to the 2007 World Cup has been rocky for Pakistan is a massive understatement. They have done everything in their power to create distractions and controversy and this surely cannot be the ideal preparation for the most important tournament in one-day cricket.

It all started with the farcical handling of the Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif’s withdrawal from the touring party. They allegedly withdrew for injury reasons but, coming on the day that the ICC announced targeted drug tests, it smacked of fear of having these players being caught out again. Of course, should they be caught in international competition it would be much more difficult for the Pakistan Cricket Board to sweep it under the carpet.

However, it didn’t stop there. Next came the decree from the PCB that the players can only answer questions at press conferences in Urdu, their native tongue. The rationale behind this stunning decision was to prevent misquotation and to promote tourism. Leaving aside the first part of the issue for a moment, I scratched my head about how cricketers speaking Urdu promotes tourism. I don’t think people who wouldn’t have thought of going to Pakistan will suddenly change their mind based on the fact that Pakistani people speak a language that visitors can’t understand – but maybe that’s just me.

The misquotation logic is also a bit flaky. Surely, by forcing reporters to rely on translations of what is said, rather than having the players answer questions in English (a language that most of the players seem to be fluent in) the players are much more likely to be misunderstood. Be prepared for the excuse that the players' statements were mistranslated instead of being misquoted. Obviously a much better state of affairs.

Not wanting to miss the opportunity to have a kick at the squad, a procession of ex-players have crawled out of the woodwork and joined the fray. Javed Miandad, the talented but temperamental former captain and coach, has come out and first taken a whack at the PCB over their poor handling of the Akhtar and Asif doping issues. He then followed it up by criticising the PCB’s efforts to get ex-players involved in motivational talks before the team left for the West Indies. Too little, too late was his opinion.

Not wanting to be left out, Imran Khan, the great Pakistani all rounder and captain of the 1992 World Cup winning team, has come out and accused current captain, Inzamam ul-Haq, of leading from the rear. An interesting contrast, as Imran is the captain who led his team from so far in front, that he completely failed to acknowledge them in his acceptance speech after collecting the Cup 15 years ago.

I think we can put all of this down to there being something in the water over there in the Caribbean. The ongoing spat between Sunil Gavaskar and Ricky Ponting over cricketing manners has been through another couple of rounds. Bishan Bedi has come out and taken a bit of a swipe at the so-called “minnows” and their right to compete. Anyone who can string a sentence together has trotted out the South Africa “chokers” tag, sorely testing Graeme Smith’s patience. Bob Woolmer has defended his charges and given the fingers (verbally, at least) to Javed and Imran. And everyone is questioning the readiness of Sabina Park.

Still, the games have actually begun and hopefully things will settle down to just getting some entertaining cricket played and leave this peripheral nonsense behind. If Pakistan can put the sideshow stuff behind them and play to their ability, then they’re in with a real chance. They have a solid team and, although they will miss Akhtar and Asif, they still have the firepower to make the semi-finals at the very least. Only time will tell if they’re good enough to go all the way.

With all the problems mentioned above, do Pakistan have a realistic chance of lifting the trophy? Send your views to Sporitngo.