Finally, the Cricket World Cup ends for Pakistan, what next?

The reigning team of the previous World Cup, England, dashed Pakistani teams’ dream of reaching the semifinal and were able to secure their position to qualify for the coming Champions’ Trophy.

Pakistan was outclassed by the English players in batting, bowling and fielding. Pakistan was all out for 244 in the 44th over and was eliminated from the tournament after their fifth defeat in nine matches.

Newziland has joined India, South Africa, and Australia in the semifinals. Pakistan’s hopes ended with a defeat of 93 runs.

The last match

On that fateful day, there was no miracle on Kolkata grounds, the cornered tigers theory did not work, and prayers of the nation were not rewarded, and the team was cornered effectively for their poor performance.

The task of achieving the impossible run rate was unachievable. The pitch favored the team batting first. Pakistan lost the battle by losing the toss. England’s team was more competent against the low-motivated Pakistani team.

All the matches

The Pakistani team performed poorly against Afghanistan and India.  Their final appeal for out in South Africa went against them. This one was the most poorly performed World Cup for the Pakistani team.

Anti-Pakistan emotions

On Indian soil, the stadiums were filled with anti-Pakistan emotions, discouraging and frightening our players on one side and their government creating hurdles for obtaining Indian visas for the Pakistani spectators and journalists on the other.

This created a great impact on the morale of the players. India has long been trying to politically marginalize the influence of Pakistan in cricket.

A successful tournament for Pakistan would have contradicted their state policy by Modi. Only the Pakistani team could have countered it with better performance.

Along with discussing the list of grievances against the hosts, we must not ignore the dismal performance of our team.

Performance of the team

It starts with the inability to control the opening partnership of the opponents by Shaheen Afridi, Haris Raufs’ inability to control the runs, and not up-to-the-mark spin bowling.

In batting our batsmen were unable to provide a good partnership. The batsmen especially the openers failed to provide a good start and the middle order failed to rescue their team and finish off the chasing of an innings.

The performance of Babar Azam has put a dent in his popularity.

It was a dismal performance from all accounts.

Pakistan is not short of talent but it has failed miserably in the successful development of the players. Nepotism, poor selection of players, and frequent changes in administration, selection committee, and team management.

An overhaul of the system must start to make preparations for the next World Cup in 2027. The Champions Trophy in 2025 will be a testing ground for the players.

The board must find out and try new players.  They have enough time to train the new talent. It will be a grave mistake to rely entirely on the existing players.

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