Lowest Low! Pakistan Go South In First ICC Event In 3 Decades

Bhargav Dixit

Pakistan couldn't win a single match. [Source: AP Photos]Pakistan couldn't win a single match. [Source: AP Photos]

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As defending champions and hosts, Pakistan had a golden ticket to glory in terms of leaving a mark in ICC Champions Trophy 2023. That they failed to qualify for the semi-finals of ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 and ICC T20 World Cup 2024 and finished at the bottom of ICC World Test Championship 2023/25 points table should’ve been enough a motivation for them to do so.

However, Pakistan, being Pakistan, have been knocked out of the tournament without a single victory under their belt. Neither this is the first time when a defending champion has failed to win a match in the Champions Trophy nor this is the first time when a host nation has failed to secure a single win.

That being said, this is surely the first time when both the defending champion and the host country hasn’t been able to win a single match. Known for their higher highs and lower lows, Mohammad Rizwan and his men managed to execute the latter to rob their fans of joy in the country’s first ICC event in almost three decades.

"We wanted to do well and perform well in front of our nation. The expectations are very high. We didn't perform well and it is disappointing for us," Rizwan told the reporters after inclement weather conditions abandoned their third league match against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi on Thursday.

Pakistan Miss The Boat In Redefining Future

The tragedy doesn’t just lie in Pakistan missing the boat as a cricket team but also in them faltering as a host country. With two out of the three matches abandoned without a ball being bowled, questions have already started to rise around the inability of covering the whole ground at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.

With no clarity around when Pakistan will host another ICC men’s event, they could’ve really set a benchmark as a host nation. For the record, creating second-to-none facilities wasn’t the only way to set a benchmark. It could’ve been done in so many other ways.

Ways that could inspire the next generation of Pakistan. For no fault of Pakistani citizens, there is no denying that the country wouldn’t get regular opportunities at hosting global competitions. Even this one was on the verge of being snatched away at one point in time.

In such a situation, inspirational performances could’ve created role models. Could’ve redefined the way sport is followed in the country. Since an outright flop show left no room for such an effort, fans are well within their right to feel downhearted.

For all that happens in and around Pakistan cricket and its selections, this piece will resist the temptation to comment on who should’ve played and who shouldn’t and who should be playing (in New Zealand) and who shouldn’t. A decision which has the ability to change every alternate day there, here is hoping that PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) takes refuge in consistency. Because, under otherwise despair circumstances, nothing but hope assures light at the end of the tunnel.