WC 2019 & Pakistan

With not such a good start in the world cup, Pakistan Cricket Team was in a state of dismay. The people supporting Pakistan were all energetic, as usual. Their hopes were quite attached with the team and their faith in Sarfaraz Ahmed was more than usual, but this all broke when Pakistan played its first match with West Indies on 31^st May 2019. Pakistan was all out on 105 and WI won the match by 7 wickets. This resulted in a huge drop on Pak’s NRR bringing them down on the points table.

Even luck wasn’t much on Pakistan’s side. After winning the next match with England by 14 runs on 3^rd June, Pakistan did stabilize its self a bit, but then rain came pouring in and Pak vs SL was abandoned due to the weather conditions. It could have put Pakistan in a better position, if won, than it is today. Pakistan played its fourth match on 12^th June against Australia, which Australia bowled out Pakistan on 266 against a target of 307. A pathetic game in regards to batting, where Fakhar Zaman (Opener) and Shoaib Malik were out for a duck, whereas Wahab Riaz made the game a bit exciting by scoring 45 off 39 balls.

Then came the nail biting match, where the expectations were high on the sky. It was India vs Pakistan, a match that is nail biting, which is more of a rivalry match than a normal cricket match. The match took place on 16^th June 2019, and as usual, it was a sight of disappointment. Imam-ul-Haq went back to the changing room with only 7 runs whereas Shoaib Malik, once again, went for a duck. The match was interrupted by rain, and due to slow start by the Pakistani batsmen, India won the match by 89 runs through DLS method. Till this moment Pakistan was on the verge of getting out, because one more match and they’d be out of the tournament.

To win all the matches, Pakistan brought changes to the team. They swapped Hasan Ali and Shoaib Malik with Shaheen Afridi and Haris Sohail respectively, which proved quite good for them. Pakistan won against South Africa by 49 runs, on 23^rd June 2019. Shadab Khan and Wahab Riaz, both took 3 wickets each, whereas on the other hand then batsmen made a great score, each, with Imam and Fakhar taking 44 runs to their name, Babar Azam 69 and a great knock by Haris Sohail who made 89 off 59, which led Pakistan towards their victory.

And Pakistan has been winning since. The next match took place with New Zealand on 26^th June, where Babar Azam, made a century and Harish Sohail played for 68 runs, with openers not playing well, as usual. Shaheen Afridi took 3 wickets and Pakistan took a step forward towards victory.

Pakistan has played its second last match with Afghanistan, which was a nail biting match for the team as well as the people of Pakistan. Afghanistan gave a target of 227 which was restricted quite much because of Shaheen’s 4 amazing wickets. The match became critical in the last 10 overs, but then came in Imad Wasim at 5^th down, and played a great knock of 49 runs, which were the highest just by the way, along with Shadab Khan. Shadab’s dismissal was a huge blow but then came in Wahab Riaz, with a fractured hand, yet played a great inning making 15 off 9 balls, with 1 six and a four, which led to Pakistan’s victory, AGAIN.

However, due to their NRR, there were many requirements for Pakistan to enter the top 4 for the Semi Finals. India’s win against was important for Pakistan’s placement, however, it was India after all. They lost to England, and on the other hand New Zealand lost to Australia which have made Pakistan’s position in the Semi Finals quite tough.

Now today, on 5^th July 2019, it’s Pakistan Vs Bangladesh and here are the conditions for Pakistan in case they want to enter the Semi Finals.

• If Pakistan scores 350 runs, they have to win by 311 runs.
• If Pakistan Scores 400, they’ve to win by 316 runs
• If Pakistan scores 450 runs, they’ve to win by 321 runs

It is now or never, let’s see what the fate decides for Pakistan today, and how do the players play in such great tension. Adios.