JOHANNESBURG, 5 March 2003 — Pakistan, having suffered the torment of a desperately disappointing World Cup campaign, endured the final agony yesterday when their title dreams were washed away by the Bulawayo rain.
Needing to win, and win big, against Zimbabwe, their belated attempts to rescue their campaign suffered the same sodden fate as South Africa whose hopes were drowned in a Durban downpour on Monday.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, the players were driven from the Queens Sports Club ground three times as Pakistan stuttered to 73-3 off 14 overs before the Group A match was finally put out of its misery. The result gave the teams two points each which meant Zimbabwe went through to the Super Sixes at the expense of both Pakistan and England.
Defending champions Australia as well as India, Kenya, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe make up the six teams in the next stage which gets under way on Friday.
Pakistan return home with just 10 points, their worst World Cup display ever after winning the title in 1992. “We played poor cricket throughout and don’t deserve to be in the next round,” captain Waqar Younis said. “We will sit down and work out what we lacked. There is a lot of cricket coming up so we have to study our failings quickly.”
Troubled Times Ahead for Pakistan Cricket
Pakistan’s cricket team is in danger of an overhaul, including possibly a new captain, after their worst ever World Cup campaign ended yesterday. Pakistan, champions in 1992 and runners-up four years ago, managed only two victories against minnows Namibia and the Netherlands after starting the tournament as one of the favorites. It could signal the end of the road for at least four aging stars — Wasim Akram, captain Waqar Younis, opening batsman Saeed Anwar and wicketkeeper Rashid Latif — as Pakistan look to the future. Former Test captain Intikhab Alam is convinced Waqar’s tenure as captain is over. “Waqar lost support even among his teammates after Pakistan was blanked by Australia in the Test series in Sri Lanka and Sharjah in October,” Intikhab said. “He obviously has lost faith in his key players because he dropped off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq in crucial games.” Undersiege Waqar said the team needed to look within themselves to find out the reason for the poor display. “We are ourselves to blame for this because we did not play to our full potential,” said Waqar, but declined to reveal his future plans.
“I will sit with my family and friends and then decide what to do,” he said. Imran Khan, who captained Pakistan to the title 11 years ago, said the team management erred while picking teams. “It was difficult to understand the policy, you never knew who was playing and who was not. There was no consistency,” Imran said.
While the likes of South Africa and the West Indies build for the future, the remaining six sides are looking ahead to the next round which starts on Friday.
