What's so magical about thirteen?

So, now it's official--Shoaib Akhtar has been picked for the India tour. The Pakistan Cricket Board says it's his last chance to prove himself. In terms of discipline of course, not as a player.
Hah.
'Hah' is what I had said to myself, quietly, when I heard of the punishment that was handed out to Shoaib by the PCB for his indiscipline which saw him miss the Twenty20 World Cup. The incident, mind, had occured BEFORE the Twenty20 World Cup started. The punishment was handed out AFTER IT FINISHED, though Shoaib was taken off the Pakistan Twenty20 team after the incident. And Shoaib was banned for thirteen matches, retroactive from the beginning of the Twenty20 tourney.
It doesn't take a calculator to do the math. Seven matches in the Twenty20 tourney. Two Tests against South Africa. Four one-dayers against South Africa. That's what he's missed. He'll be back for the final one-dayer against South Africa--and for the India tour. Having served out his sentence.
Hah.
Hah--because: why thirteen matches? What about that magical figure is just right as a number when you're banning somebody? Why not ten? Or fifteen? And isn't it a little strange to count five-day Test matches, seven-hour ODIs and three-hour Twenty20 matches as one match each when you're counting up to thirteen?
Hah--because: what's the logic in banning him retroactively from the beginning of the Twenty20 tournament after the end of the tournament? Very conveniently, he's banned for seven Twenty20 matches in the World Cup that he didn't play. The point is, no one knew Pakistan was going to reach the final and therefore play seven matches. Thay may have played only two, if they had got knocked out in the first round. In that case, would Shoaib have had to sit out five more matches, till the end of the India ODI series? Oh no. Because the calculations were done AFTER the Twenty20 tourney ended, you see. Hindsight is such a useful thing.
For let's face it: everyone's itching to see Shoaib tear in from the top of his mark and bowl at 97 mph to Sachin, and maybe beat him for speed and uproot his stumps like he did that time in Kolkata. It's a spectator sport and people pay good money for this stuff. No point having the man sit out even a game in the India series. And to get him warmed up, better get him to play the last South Africa game as well.
Pakistan can't afford to tour India without Shoaib. The PCB knows that, and so does Shoaib. That's why this disciplining business just rings so hollow. It's like the Kauravas giving Karna a curtain lecture, isn't it, no payasam for you tonight bad boy, that'll teach you to go hitting Asif bhaiya with that gada--and then expect him to go hammer and tongs at Arjuna and Bhima and Yudhisthir next morning.
I've been wondering about that thirteen. Twelve years of vanvas and one year of agyatavas, was it? In the agyatavas you can take it out on the South Africa Keechak a bit.
Hah.