Pakistan’s World Cup in review: What went wrong, what went horribly wrong

From Yawngate to YouTube critics to misfiring players, we look back at all that was ugly in cricket's biggest event

By Zohaib Ahmed Majeed
July 08, 2019
Pakistan's World Cup 2019 campaign was eventful, if not successful. Photo collage: Ashir Ahmed

It’s that time of the year when sheaths come off of sharpened knives, axes are wielded and heads are rolled. Because Pakistan did not win the World Cup, their World Cup campaign is deemed a failure.

The thinking heads would argue that Sarfaraz Ahmed’s men were in no way better than at least three of the four teams that finished above them, thus they achieved what they were capable of and almost achieved even more. But that’s logic, which has no place in post-World Cup Pakistani hysteria.

To get the frenzy going, here is an obligatory post-mortem of Sarfaraz Ahmed’s men and their showings.

The wrongs

Run makers turn ruin makers

If it weren’t for the chronically creaky batting, Pakistan would have won the cricket world cup, the football world cup, and even the WBC heavyweight title — twice. Behind every great cricketing tragedy involving Pakistan, there are padded creatures with faces bewildered, heads down, and gaits laboured, trudging back to the pavilion.

It wasn’t going to be any different this time. Not a chance. Of the three matches Pakistan lost, the batsmen failed all three times. Yeah, yeah bowlers weren’t without blame. They, too, leaked 307 against Australia and 336 against India but one of those games was still winnable until the batters put their stamp on the game. Or stomped on the game.

Who were the specific faces responsible? Anyone not named Babar Azam or Haris Sohail.

Read: How Shoaib Malik stained his legacy on English soil

Butterfingers

Everything said about batting also holds true for fielding. Have you ever wondered why Wahab Riaz’s hairline has receded so much? The frustration of seeing catches grassed over and over again and match by match does that to you. You grow bald and a permanent scowl sets on your face.

Pakistan were by far the worst fielding side of World Cup 2019. — Photo: AFP/File

The inglorious Pakistani fielders were in their full glory this World Cup too. After the first five matches, they had dropped 14 catches and were so far ahead in the race that folks stopped keeping record after. If it wasn’t understood by then, it was now. Any team competing with Pakistan for most dropped catches is fighting a losing battle. Pakistani fielders are consistently brilliant in dropping catches. They cannot be topped.

The ‘right’ team combinations

The tritest terminology in Pakistan cricket is “team combination”. If things are going south, blame it on the inability to find the right “team combination”, and if things are pointing up, credit it to having found the "right team combination”. 

It’s not like cricket is rowing or doubles tennis where a partner’s individual act has any bearing on the outcome of a particular play. Yet a lot of stock is put in finding the right combinations, which apparently Pakistan did not find until deep in the tournament. Haris Sohail, Shaheen Shah Afridi — the resurgence of both is alternatively being defined as Pakistan finally discovering the "right combination".

Question is, why does this search for these “right combinations” always take place mid-tournaments. Why can’t you keep a sack full of “right combinations” in advance?

The Yawngate

Never before has a simple yawn spawned into such a controversy. It was nothing; a non-event except Sarfaraz was caught napping at the worst possible time when the team was being mauled by India of all the teams. Was it a big deal? No. Should it have happened? Probably no. Winning teams do not have yawning skippers.

Dishonourable mentions: Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez

The horribly wrongs

Fakhar Zaman

He was sputtering for quite some time, but this World Cup the Fakhar Zaman bandwagon’s wheels came off completely. The opener with arguably the most flawed technique in cricket did not make a single contribution that proved decisive in getting his side a win.

A career 45-runs-per-innings scorer, Zaman’s average in 2019 is down to 30 — a 15-run decline. During the World Cup, he failed to maintain even that lowly standard as his average dropped to an astonishing 23.25. If fingers are to be pointed at anyone, you know in whose direction.

Hasan Ali

It’s admittedly a tad unfair to pin the blame of the whole tournament on someone who played only half of it. When Hasan Ali was benched after the India game, there was still plenty of time left.

Hasan Ali was supremely out of sorts and was deservedly benched halfway through World Cup 2019. — Photo: AFP/File

But what do you do when you’re the worst bowler in almost all of those games? And what do you do when your career bowling average of 29 doesn’t just deteriorate a few points, it balloons to 128 — that’s almost a 100-run jump for every wicket taken.

The decision making

The easiest decision any Pakistan captain can ever take after winning the toss is to bat first. That goes double against India. Triple if it's India in a major tournament. Sarfaraz chose to bowl first though, and the rest is history, and not a pleasant one at that.

The weather

The World Cup saw four matches washed out. Sri Lanka were the most affected as they were involved in two of those no-result games. However, Pakistan were arguably the hardest hit. 

All things considered, Pakistan would have beaten Sri Lanka, netted one more point than the one they actually got and off to the semi-finals they’d have been. 

New Zealand, their direct rivals, were the underdogs against India and would have likely lost (MS Dhoni permitting!) but rain gave them a bonus point.

The ugly side of fandom

Scathing criticism, unforgiving memes — they’re all fine until it takes the form of harassment. Even if Pakistan had lost all their matches, it still did not give anyone the right to confront Sarfaraz in his private life. That sort of ugliness doesn’t fit the profile of cricket.

What else doesn’t fit? Fans barging into stadiums, vandalising property, launching attacks and flaunting political messages.

The ugly side of 'expert' opinions

From a TV standpoint, World Cup is also a great time to get yourself noticed on TV or build a YouTube channel even. 

Again, criticism, even if harsh, is fair game but passing bigoted and racist comments or body shaming players is not okay in any way or form. Not when you yourself haven’t been a saint in your cricketing career and never won a World Cup yourself.

Read: 'Broken' Pakistan cricket needs reforms not repairs

Sarfaraz and co did not succeed but they did not humiliate themselves either. They were the best of the rest, had victories over two semi-finalists and would have qualified had it not been for the small matter of run rate. This was much more dignified than the embarrassing results of 2003 and 2007 World Cups. And then there was the humiliation of the 1999 final. 

FYI, a certain 'express' pacer was a part of all those failed campaigns. 

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