'Good night Pakistan': Twitter reacts to Pakistan's performance against India
Cricket fans across the country and beyond took to Twitter to vent out their frustration, as Pakistan put up yet another disappointing performance in their match against India on Sunday, which many had hoped would be overshadowed by the rain.
Sports journalist Rehanul Haq lamented the coming off of the covers after the rain-hit match resumed.
"This rain did nothing but wash our hopes away," he joked.
At another point he shared the following eye-opening statistics:
"Kohli ODI hundreds = 41, Entire Pak team = 41 hundreds. That’s just one example of the difference in quality b/w the two teams. I know as Pak fans, this is difficult to watch but India are currently a far superior team. Pak will need to play out of their skin to beat this India," he wrote.
Kamran Akmal, meanwhile, lauded Rohit Sharma's nerves of steel and congratulated Virat Kohli as he became the fastest batsman to score 11,000 runs.
"Brilliant 100 under-pressure @ImRo45 big match big inning & congratulations to @imVkohli for achieving a milestone of fastest 11000 runs what a player you are unbelievable #IndiaVsPakistan #CWC2019," he tweeted.
Sajjad Sadiq, editor of the Pak Passion website, tweeted the most apt picture depicting what every Pakistani and Indian fan was feeling throughout most of the match.
Another fan shared this heart-breaking photo, saying: "These are tears of Pakistani Aawam, dont mistake them for rain."
However, not all Indian fans were gushing over their team's performance. Manak Gupta, an anchor of India's News 24 TV channel, seemed to think the side had fallen short of their potential target.
"Our middle order clearly lacks firepower. England would have taken it to 400 nine out of ten times," he tweeted.
Imamul Haq received much hate after his dismissal by Vijay Shankar. One Twitterati seemed to think Firdous Ashiq Awan could have done better than Imamul Haq at the crease.
"Still a better opener than Parchi aka Imamul Haq," he wrote.
Shoaib Malik's woeful dismissal for naught also drew the ire of many, including ESPNCricinfo's Danyal Rasool.
"That might just be the last we see of Shoaib Malik in an international game," he tweeted.
Another enraged fan, sharing an image of Malik's scorecard, remarked: "Shoaib Malik just miss[ed] his double century by 200 runs."
At one point in the game, Shoaib Akhtar admitted that it would take a miracle for Pakistan to win.
"We need a miracle to chase this down. May Allah help our boys chase this total and change history. Come on guys, we are with you."
And as morale continued to dwindle, this picture of skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed yawning took the internet by storm and brought out the driest of humour from fans: "Yeah, why don't you go ahead and do that first."
As the inevitable (defeat) drew close, with the match suspended with Pakistan at 166-6 after 35 overs, sports journalist Hassan Cheema appreciated the Pakistani meme game which seemed to always be on point.
"Neither do we need a domestic structure, nor development, we simply need the ability to laugh at our own selves. MashaAllah we don't lack talent in this department even now," he tweeted in Urdu.
Ali Khan Tareen, the owner of the Pakistan Super League team 'Multan Sultans', pointed out that there can be no quick fixes in the path to improvement for the Pakistan team.
"Pakistan Cricket can't improve unless Domestic Cricket improves," he tweeted.
Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari, however, did not hold back, and provided a scathing review on Twitter of the Pakistan team's performance in comparison to their opponents.
"Hate to admit it but today there was a professional well-gelled cricket team that was the Indian team & a bunch of stragglers disconnected & led by a yawning captain that passed for the Pak team! Winning & losing r part of the game but there must be a modicum of professionalism!" she wrote.
Despite the rivalry between both sides, a lot of heartwarming scenes were also witnessed, as pointed out by one spectator who took these pictures of a couple with cross-border origins and highlighted the spirit of cricket shown by them.
A similar viewpoint shared by Indian journalist, Hemant, called attention to the importance of fostering friendships, not hate, through sport.
"Despite all the hostility whipped up by the media, the fans at the ground, from both Indian and Pakistani, are generally good-natured. After all, we are similar in almost every way..sport should foster friendships, not hate..and it was a great atmosphere today," he tweeted.
In the end, there was no choice but to bid farewell to a long-drawn, agony-riddled defeat of the Green Shirts, as aptly tweeted by South African cricketer Morne Morkel: "I’m afraid it’s good night Pakistan..The blue machine marches on!!!"