By Martin Gough BBC Sport Online

It was coincidental that the revelation of the investigation into possible match-fixing by the Pakistan team came a day prior to of their coach's sacking.

Full stoy: ICC probe Pakistan match

But the two events just went to show just how regularly trouble seems to strike the side on a regular basis both on and off the pitch.

When form is on their side, Pakistan can be one of the nest in the world, but they can also slumps to the lows of recent weeks.

Mudassar Nazar was summoned home from Sri Lanka to explain how a limited-overs team that recently beat Australia in Australia 2-1 could slump spectacularly.

And he left a meeting with the Pakistan Cricket Board having been reassigned to the National Cricket Academy in Lahore.

Full story: Mudassar Nazar axed

Since that Super Challenge Series success, Pakistan have failed to reach the final of the Morocco Cup.

Wild fluctuations in form are nothing new for Pakistan, though.

And if Nazar is he had been able to explain them then he would surely have been better qualified for the job that any of his predecessors.

In the last four years that group has included Javed Miandad, Intikhab Alam, Richard Pybus, Haroon Rasheed, Wasim Raja and Mushtaq Mohammed.

World Cup furore

The cricketing public back home, though, demands success and if they are denied, they will go looking for reasons, and quick solutions.

Not only has the coach been changed regularly in the last few years, but the captaincy has passed from Wasim Akram to Saeed Anwar, to Moin Khan to Waqar Younis since 1999.

Other teams would be lauded on reaching the World Cup finals, but Pakistan's players returned home from England four years ago to find their homes attacked amid accusations of match-fixing.

Bangladesh's World Cup win caused uproar

There is no smoke without fire, though: their abject defeat in the tournament final may not have been in doubt, but a question mark was placed next to the loss to India at old Trafford.

And few could believe the 62-run defeat at the hands of lowly Bangladesh in Northampton, even though Wasim's side had already qualified for the next round.

A commission headed by Justice Karamat Bhandari finally cleared the side of wrong-doing during the tournament.

But it was the investigation that was going on at the time that brought more to light, resulting in a life ban for former captain Salim Malik.

The Justice Qayyum inquiry, probing the events of 1993-95, also banned former all-rounder Ata-ur-Rehman for life and handed out fines and cautions to several of the current side.

No firm evidence of corruption was found against Wasim, but there was sufficient for Qayyum to rule that he should never hold the captaincy again, saying he was "not above suspicion".

There were also fines of �1,200 for Inzamam-ul Haq, Saeed Anwar and Waqar, accused of withholding evidence.

Lingering doubt

Since those findings were made public, and amidst the witch-hunt that followed the revelations of corruption against other senior players, no loss of form has passed without doubts being aired.

Television commentators have grown used to opining, as they did last Thursday when Yousuf Youhana fell to a senseless run-out, that external forces are at work.

Salim Malik received a life ban

The International Cricket Council's Anti-Corruption Unit, headed by Lord Condon, is now reviewing a video of the match.

And the presence of the ACU's security managers at all major matches should now mean that corruption is either averted or quickly rooted out.

"Even the finest teams or players could have a bad day without having any bad intentions at all," Pakistan Cricket Board director Munawwar Rana said following the latest judicial inquiry.

The trouble is that, among the topsy-turvy twists of form suffered by the Pakistan team, fans can never be truly sure.