So the bonus point has played havoc with Pakistan and deprived them of a chance to defend their Asia Cup title against hosts Sri Lanka on Sunday. Pakistan, who scored 300-9 from 50 overs against India, needed to keep India down to 239 to take six full points from the match.
India were reduced to 235-8 with three deliveries remaining in the match, before the ninth-wicket pair of Anil Kumble and Laxmipathy Balaji scrambled six runs off the final three balls to gain their team vital points. It left India with seven points, two more than Pakistan's five. However, generous gift of 38 extra runs from the Pakistani bowlers helped the Indians achieve the bonus point.
India had made it to the final, defeating Sri Lanka by just four runs "We have been in this situation many times in the past and somehow managed to pull through," said Indian captain Saurav Ganguly before the start of the match.
Finding flaws in the rules, it would have been better for Woolmer to pinpoint flaws in his coaching and defective game plan, which resulted in Pakistan's ouster from the final of the tournament.
The rules were framed much before the start of the tournament by the committee, represented by all the participating teams, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chief Executive Ramiz Raja, who was also present in Sri Lanka in connection with television assignment of doing commentary, should have raised objection to such a rule.
However, Woolmer's remarks "I think the bonus point should be closer to the main target. I don't think 60 runs difference is right -- 20 or 25 runs would be closer to what we want," carry no weight.
Under the tournament rules, a team secures five points for a win and one bonus point if it achieves victory with a run-rate 1.25 times higher than the rival's.
But a losing team gets a bonus point if it prevents the winner from achieving a run-rate 1.25 times higher than its own.
Apart from lack of homework for the crunch match, coach Bob Woolmer, it seems, was ignorant of the tournament rules, which were framed for all the participating teams.
Before taking on India, who had already won a bonus point after defeating Bangladesh, it was the responsibility of the coach to warn the boys against the dangers of the point with specific instructions to restrict India to 239 runs.
But he failed to brief the boys about the tournament rules, hence the hue and cry against the tournament rules is nothing but to mislead the cricket fans in Pakistan.
Now it is reported that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) would raise the bonus issues at the Saturday's meeting of the Asian Cricket Council in Sri Lanka with a request to the International Cricket Council (ICC) to reconsider the rule at its next meeting.
SUPER LEAGUE ROUND: In the first Super League round match, Pakistan were mauled by hosts Sri Lankans for a paltry 122.
In their turn, the Sri Lankans did not wait for long on the wicket to score just 123 runs, as the Pakistanis were generous enough to provide the hosts with the much needed match practice and score a little over 100 runs and the deficit of 23 runs was provided through the extras.
Woolmer, reacting to the flopped batting, said the Pakistani batsmen did not realise the importance of the match and threw their wickets by playing irresponsible shots.
But in their second Super League match against India, they came from behind and beat India by 60 runs. Despite early dismissal of opener Imran Nazir for just one run, all-rounder Shoaib Malik was upgraded in the order and sent at number three. He scored 134 runs, providing a solid base for the middle and late order batsmen to pile up a mammoth score of 300 for nine.
The day belonged to Shoaib Malik, but as luck would have it, despite victory over India, the bonus point went to the latter. Had our bowlers maintained their line and length and avoided conceding 38 extra runs, India would have been out for 200 and Pakistan would have been playing the finals against Sri Lanka.
REALISTIC: However, one must appreciate Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, who is very well aware of the weaknesses of his boys in the field, said before losing to Sri Lanka that Pakistan were not the tournament favourites.
"We are happy that all the attention is on India and Sri Lanka and that allows us to play our matches without pressure," he said.
"He is there to change the culture and thinking in the team and to make it a more professional outfit.
RAMIZ PRAISES WOOLMER: "We are prepared to give him time to get results," said Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ramiz Raja, who was seen singing and playing "Tabla" in the commentary box on Sunday.
"The problem unfortunately has always been that the talent we have has never corresponded with our performances," he said.
Defending Woolmer magic, Ramiz said: "Woolmer is there to change the culture and thinking in the team and to make it a more professional outfit. We are prepared to give him time to get results.
"When we appointed him...we knew it would take time for him to put in a proper system," Raja said.
"The problem unfortunately has always been that the talent we have has never corresponded with our performances," he said.
"He is our best hope of turning things around. With the talent we have, we should be up there. Unfortunately, due to a number of reasons this has not happened and our performances have not been consistent," he said.
NON-SERIOUS RAMIZ: A man is known by his company he keeps. So is the case of Pakistani cricketers, who as non-serious to their game as Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chief Executive Ramiz Raja, least bothered about the game and its administration.
Despite harsh criticism of television assignment of doing commentary by the Senate Steering Committee on Sports, Ramiz has no respect to the views of the elected members of the Senate.
During the match between Pakistan and India, an over-joyous Ramiz was seen entertaining his colleague commentator Sanjay Manjrekar with songs, thumping desk like "Tabla" in the commentary box. This is really insulting not only to the country and its cricket Board, but also the nation.
How could one expect from the players to maintain discipline and behave gentlemanly on foreign soil when their Chief Executive was behaving in a manner negating all norms of decency.
No official from any cricket-playing countries board was ever seen appearing in TV commercials or as commentator over radio or TV, but the PCB Chief Executive, who represents his country and its Cricket Board, has crossed all limits of decency and failed to behave like a chief executive.
Though he would not shy of his childish activities, many feel it insulting not only to the PCB but also the country and the nation that the Chief Executive of the national cricket body was appearing in television commercials and doing commentary on TV, besides entertaining his commentator colleague with songs and expertise in "Tabla-playing".
Since PCB Chairman Shaharyar Khan has no guts to tame his ambitious Chief Executive, the Senate Steering Committee on Sports is the last hope to bring an order in the PCB and ask Ramiz to stop bringing disgrace to the nation and the country.