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Babar Azam was in control, and it seemed certain that
he would bring up the 50-run partnership with his reliable partner Mohammad
Rizwan on the other end. Pakistan’s chances of making it to the semi-finals had
ended, but there was still a World Cup match to be won, and the country’s
captain would need to be present to do it.
The least seasoned international cricket player in
England’s team, Gus Atkinson, came in and gave it a short. Even though Adil
Rashid was positioned at short midwicket to discourage Babar from pulling,
Babar continued to do so. Suddenly, off his 45th delivery, Babar’s World Cup
campaign came to an abrupt stop due to his terrible timing. Pakistan’s campaign
would ultimately come to an equally pitiful conclusion, losing by 93 runs
against a team that had defeated every team except Bangladesh and the Netherlands.
Adam Zampa had set up the same trap that Babar would
fall headfirst into midway through Pakistan’s campaign; Babar had started the
competition with that dismissal, to the Netherlands’ Colin Ackermann. Maybe
aptly, in a competition where Pakistan has been known to replicate past errors,
its skipper would personify that, capping the event exactly as he began it.
It made sense that the pitch was up, as Pakistan
needed only a run to win in eleven balls. A sort of half-volley was bowled by
Dilshan Madushanka, and Rizwan had just to lean into the drive to place it
through a gap and send it racing away for four. The game was done before the
ball ever touched the rope. Iftikhar and Rizwan had jogged across for a single,
and in the record books—and, more crucially, in the computation of net run rate
(NRR)—it was one, not four, that mattered.
Ultimately, what would recur was not ancient history,
but rather modern history. All that mattered at a World Cup when, in all
likelihood, only five countries could make enough of a challenge to advance to
the semi-finals was making sure not to finish last in that little mini-group.
Furthermore, it might not have come as a huge surprise when New Zealand and
Pakistan were forced to contend for fourth place once more when Australia,
South Africa, and India withdrew. Furthermore, Pakistan handled their NRR as a
spare from the beginning, whereas New Zealand had treated it like a first-born
child. Similar to 2019, the buffer that Pakistan had been able to create was
sufficient to prevent Babar Azam’s group from getting near.
Pakistan, a team that was at the top of the ODI
standings only a few weeks ago, are discovering that the fall is always faster
than the ascent. They will now witness teams they looked down the table at
compete for the trophy it was all heading towards at a World Cup they entered
with such initial excitement. Perhaps the biggest problem they now confront is
rebuilding in a way that is helpful rather than vengeful.