He's back! Well, he claims so...

Those who thought we’ve seen the last of Shoaib Akhtar can take a walk. The erratic “Rawalpindi Express” has emerged out of the blue and back is his swagger.

Shoaib, who these days is slugging at Lahore’s National Cricket Academy under NCA chief coach Mudassar Nazar’s watchful eyes, claims he has given himself four months to return. Now, God save Pakistan cricket.

And yes, he insists he was dropped from Pakistan’s World Cup squad because of injury and not because he had failed a privately-conducted dope test in London.

“I was dropped from the team because of my injury. We underwent no private dope tests,” Shoaib said. Did anyone listen, let alone believe?

“I have a great equation with Mudassar who has worked with me before and understands me as a person and bowler,” said Shoaib. We can only pray for Mudassar.

And if you have had not enough, sample this.

“I am learning to be a little more diplomatic and I have grown up,” Shoaib said. We are enlightened.

Ravi Shastri team India's interim coach?

With BCCI taking its sweet time before coming out with its decisions –a press conference is scheduled in Mumbai tomorrow – speculation was rife with a number of questions doing the rounds:

1. What happens to Greg Chappell?
2. If he’s removed, who steps into Chappell’s Chappals (that’s slipper in Hindi)?
3. Can Rahul Dravid retain captaincy?

And the likely answers are:

1. BCCI gets rid of Chappell and employs him! Simplified, it means he vacates Team India coach’s job and instead would function as Consultant at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), Bangalore.
2. Ravi Shastri is all set to step forward as India’s interim coach till next month’s Bangladesh tour, provided he gets the green signal from ESPN-STAR.
3. Dravid retains captaincy but would be interesting to see him lead a bunch of seniors who see him as Chappell’s Man Friday.

So, keep your fingers crossed for a few more hours and trust BCCI to surprise you again.