I AM unable to understand why there is so much hue and cry on Pakistan’s failure to reach the World Cup cricket semifinal. Some leading ex-cricketers, media, social media and TV shows on cricket ridiculed our team, captain, coaches and cricket board.

I personally feel Pakistan certainly did well after debacle in the first match against the West Indies. Why do we not appreciate that Pakistan won five matches out of nine against England, South Africa, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Afghanistan? One match against Sri Lanka was abandoned owing to rain, while Pakistan lost only three.

We need to support Sarfaraz Ahmed and the entire team as they have in the past delivered. Abusing individuals and the team does not speak of our goodness as a nation. We should, on the contrary, think positively that we won five matches in all and four matches in a row.

The Pakistan Cricket Board, however, needs to review thoroughly our shortcomings and ensure the team, which is known for fighting qualities, comes back strongly and not as most unpredictable one.

Akber D. Vazir
Karachi

(2)

WHEN the World Cup commenced I had zero interest. We started off disconnectedly and played the most important matches with a terrible team.

Across the world, Pakistani cricket fans were dispirited when we lost the do-or- die match with India. Fans aghast by the captain’s yawns, performance and body language of our team.

Praying for other teams to perform badly or below their standard and watching team Pakistan play while we all sat on prayer mats became a norm till the match with Bangladesh.

It is about time we paid heed to those who have publicly admitted that players are chosen for shady reasons. Is this for real? Are we really playing for our country? To say that we demand that these allegations should be interrogated and not swept under the carpet is truly not asking for much. I don’t know about other crestfallen fans but I’m done with supporting Pakistan playing cricket anywhere in the world.

A cricket lover
Karachi

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2019