Mohit Sharma sprinted in for his 54th delivery of the game - Sohail Khan swung his bat - the ball flew high into the air and landed safely into a waiting Umesh Yadav’s palms. It was over. Pakistan had been beaten for a 6th straight time at the World Cup by India.
If the cameras had focused on Misbah-ul-Haq at that very moment, the Pakistan skipper might probably have been caught taking a deep breath, not for the battle that had just been lost but the war that lay ahead.
Subcontinental teams don’t have the most forgiving of fans or a forgiving media. The Pakistani team would have gone to bed Sunday night knowing that they would wake up to headlines dedicated to their defeat. But what Misbah and co. would not have expected is the backlash from their own, the cricketing community of Pakistan.
Among the harshest of critics was former fast bowler Shoiab Akhtar, who was himself memorably torn apart by Sachin Tendulkar in the 2003 World Cup loss. As a guest on Geo News Channel he said, “I think Misbah has to shed some of his humbleness and calmness and deal with such players strongly. Look at Ahmed Shehzad, he has been now around for three to four years and what was he trying to do? I would dare him to show this same irresponsible attitude if Imran Khan was captain he would be shown the door in no time.”
Easily forgotten was the fact that Misbah had high scored for the team with a well-fought 76 and their defeat margin of 76 runs was also in part due to his stoic partnership with Shahid Afridi in the middle overs.
Batting great Zaheer Abbas joined the chorus of voices blaming the skipper for the defeat adding, “our captain made blunders. Sending Younis to open the innings was a big blunder and using Umar as a wicketkeeper was another. Moreover, we dropped so many catches.”
Pakistan’s former leg-spinner Abdul Qadir though put the onus squarely on the PCB’s shoulders, blaming their refusal to send Saeed Ajmal to the World Cup for the defeat. “We lost today because we didn’t have Saeed. If he had played even with his new action I am sure India would not have scored 300,” Qadir told PTI.
The man in question however had found his own target. Ajmal, now a guest on a Pakistani news channel blamed umpire Steve Davis, even alleging that he had victimized Pakistan.
“Steve Davis has always had issues with us, he never upheld any appeal when I bowled and I had to always ask for a referral to get a wicket when he was the umpire,” Ajmal said on Dunya news channel.
Speaking on the Third Umpire ruling out Umar Akmal after a referral, Ajmal recalled the incident at the 2011 World Cup when Sachin Tendulkar survived after a decision giving him out was overturned on review.
“Even at that time I remember Gautam Gambhir telling Sachin not to take a referral as it was a big out yet when the referral was taken it showed the ball going outside the leg-side and this raises lot of questions about this technology. After all this technology is also managed by human beings,” Ajmal said.