Between sips of milk tea at a restaurant within the Pakistani metropolis of Karachi on Friday morning, Jaffer Ahmed dissected the nationwide cricket workforce’s shock loss to the US.
“That is unbelievable and embarrassing,” Ahmed, 26, stated as he took bites of bread and lamented the defeat with pals. “How can we, with our cricketing historical past, lose to a rustic that doesn’t even have cricket in its DNA?”
Shedding to the US on Thursday within the Males’s T20 World Cup was a humiliation in Pakistan, the place cricket is the preferred sport and a part of the nationwide id. The nationwide workforce received the take a look at World Cup in 1992, led by Imran Khan, who later rode his sports activities fame to a political profession that included turning into prime minister.
Many People have been oblivious to the magnitude of their victory in Dallas. But it surely was felt acutely within the shedding facet’s cricket-mad nation. As followers woke as much as the information, they started making an attempt to digest what had occurred, watching highlights from the match within the streets.
“We must be educating the usA.,” stated Muhammad Sagheer, 32, “not shedding to them.”
Followers have been infuriated by their workforce’s poor exhibiting. The gamers dropped catches and missed bats, handing essential alternatives to the People, stated Feroz Shah, 30, who referred to as Pakistan’s sport a catastrophe.
Pakistan had already been struggling, partially as a result of latest management shake-ups within the workforce and on the nationwide cricket board have harm morale, Aatif Nawaz, a British-Pakistani cricket commentator, stated in a video.
“A bitter capsule to swallow for Pakistan followers who’ve seldom seen darker occasions,” he wrote on social media after Thursday’s sport, calling it one of many largest upsets within the sport’s historical past.
The USA, which had by no means performed within the World Cup, is a late bloomer on the worldwide cricket stage. It ranks 18th on this planet. Pakistan ranks sixth. Thursday’s win was the largest but for the U.S. workforce.
“Pakistan appeared exhausted and helpless within the discipline,” Waqar Younis, a former coach of Pakistan’s nationwide workforce, wrote on social media. “Congrats USA for a thumping victory.”
American curiosity in cricket is rising together with its South Asian diaspora. Traders have poured over $1 billion into increasing the game nationwide. The home league performed its first season final yr and workforce house owners embrace Microsoft’s chief government, Satya Nadella. Within the World Cup, the US stands a probability of qualifying for the Tremendous 8 spherical.
Some People celebrated their win over Pakistan on social media, lots of them in awe that one of many star U.S. gamers, Saurabh Netravalkar, has a day job as a senior engineer at Oracle.
“It’s a giant achievement, you already know, beating Pakistan,” Monank Patel, the present captain, stated after the victory. “I’m actually pleased with the boys.”
One other concern reverberated all through the cafe in Karachi the place Ahmed was consuming tea with pals. Pakistan is about to face India, its best competitor, on Sunday, in an occasion that can take over each tv display in each nations.
“If we couldn’t win in opposition to the usA., how can we win in opposition to our archrival from India?” Sagheer stated.
