ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s cricket team’s timid batting has infuriated the country’s former cricketers and fans after rivals India won by six runs in a marquee Twenty20 World Cup match in New York.
Pakistan’s second straight loss in Group A on Sunday puts them in danger of missing out on the Super Eight stage of the tournament, which is being co-hosted by the United States and the West Indies.
The United States, making their World Cup debut, have already made history last Thursday by beating Pakistan in a super over after the teams were tied for 159 in the regulation 20-over match.
Only two teams from each of the four groups can advance to the second stage. Pakistan will need to win their remaining matches against Canada and Ireland and hope for favourable results in their other group matches to qualify.
“I think it would be best to set it up so that a template text like ‘disappointed and hurt’ is automatically posted,” former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar wrote on Twitter under his former pseudonym X.
“Credit should be given to Pakistan. They did everything they could to lose this game. There was no other way,” Akhtar told state television sports channel PTV Sport. “It was a ball-for-ball game. Nobody told us to take hits or do anything stupid. It was a shock, a surprise, a disappointment but it was expected.”
Akhtar said that the Pakistan team is made up of mediocre cricketers and there is no hope that the team will become stronger in future.
“They remain the same,” he said. “If you ask for extraordinary things from ordinary people, you don’t get it. If mediocrity comes in, you can’t go any further. That’s what we’ve got from investing (in cricket) over the last 20 years.”
Akhtar also criticised the International Cricket Council for the drop-in pitch in New York, pointing out that all five matches in the country were low scoring.
“Who would write a song like that?” he wondered. “You had a year to prepare. Wake up, ICC.”
Pakistan squandered a golden opportunity after their fast bowlers had restricted India to 119 in the 19th over on a difficult court where the batsmen continued to struggle. They were on track at 80-3 in the 13th over but set batsman Mohammed Rizwan played some reckless shots off Jasprit Bumrah and Pakistan were eventually restricted to 113-7.
“Pakistan loses tight, low-scoring match to India as batsmen run out,” read the front-page headline in the British newspaper Dawn. The paper also published pictures of Rizwan taking a knee after a shutout loss and Bumrah celebrating with Virat Kohli.
“Pakistan squanders strong start as India registers thrilling T20 win,” headlined another English daily, The News.
Former Pakistan fast bowlers Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram, who were commentating on the match from New York, also vented their anger after the defeat to India.
“They have been playing cricket for 10 years and I cannot teach them,” Akram said. “Rizwan has no awareness of the game. He should have known that Bumrah was given the ball to take a wicket and it would have been wise to bowl carefully but Rizwan went for a big shot and lost his wicket.”
Coach Younis said the batsmen’s performance was terrible.
“Pakistan, what can I say if you don’t win this match,” he said. “It was a well-deserved reward and Pakistan completely missed it. The performance of the Pakistan batsmen was awful. They had some early combinations but could not finish the game off.”
Thousands of cricket-mad fans gathered in front of big screens in major Pakistani cities to watch the high-profile match between the nuclear-armed nations, who have not played a bilateral cricket match between the two countries for over a decade but regularly meet in ICC tournaments.
At least 17,000 people watched the match live on a specially set-up screen by the ICC at the ‘Fan Park’ at the Pindi Cricket Stadium.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Ibrahim Irfan, a 20-year-old university student who left the stadium in disbelief with four friends. “It’s terrible to say the least. How can we lose matches chasing such small targets? A radical overhaul is needed. I’m tired of seeing the same old useless batsmen like Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan and Imad Wasim.”
Ahmed Awan, another fan who watched the match on a big screen in Karachi, said Pakistan players were playing for personal milestones.
“They have pitched well but their batting has been disappointing. They are playing for individual milestones. They should start the batting with a tail-ender and a middle-order batsman. An opener should come on later in the match, be it (captain) Babar (Azam) or Rizwan.”
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