Adil Najam
Pakistan plays its second group match in the 2007 World Cup Cricket against Ireland today.
Having already lost the first match to hosts West Indies, if the troubled Pakistani team also loses this game, it would have effectively eliminated itself from the tournament even before the ‘Super 8’ begin. On the other hand, if Ireland wins, it will be a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day windfall for the Irish.
Even though Ireland had pulled in a remarkable effort by tieing against Zimbabwe, the odds say that Pakistan will not lose today (and if they do, would there be any hope at all left for Pakistan cricket?). But around 20 per cent of our readers seem to think that Pakistan will fail to make it to the Super 8 – if not by losing today’s game, then by losing the last Group game against Zimbabwe. This according to the results of our ATP Poll on Pakistan’s prospects for the Cricket World Cup 2007.
(Click above for larger image)
The overall prognosis from the Poll seems to be rather bleak.
- A total of 398 votes were cast in the Poll.
- Some 20 per cent (79 votes) believe that Pakistan will not even make it past the group stage into the ‘Super 8.’
- This means that 80 per cent feel that the team will get into the Super 8. However, just about half (47 per cent; 188 votes) believe that Pakistan will not get beyond the Super 8 stage.
- A total of 34 per cent (131 votes) believes that Pakistan will, in fact, get to the Semi-Finals. But 20 per cent (78 votes) are of the view that the team will get no further than the Semi-Finals.
- 53 people (14 per cent) are of the view that the green caps will get to the Finals; and of these 43 (11 per cent of total) feel that we will win.
Personally, in this case I would hope that the majority is wrong and the 43 people who think that Pakistan will actually win the World Cup turn out to be correct. I hope so, but, frankly, I am not holding my breath.
I beleive that Naseem Ashraf should be accountable to the nation. President should call him for the accountability not to reject his resignation. President should stop the ad hocism in the cricket board.
P.S. Earlier he also “failed” with something called “Pakistan Fund” along with Moin Qureshi, and former official of the World Bank Shahid Javed Burki (see http://www.pakistanlink.com/Letters/2002/Mar/08/01 .html)
When I heard the news Naseem had sent his resignation to Mush, I knew it bluff. Remember PCB has a lot of money… earlier Naseem stole billions from his last job as Chairman “National Commission for Human Development” of which most people are unaware of…
Nasim Ashraf and Mush are both shameless. Utterly baighairat!
here’s nothing to say … what is the point of saying anything … a guy accepts that he is not good enough for the job … history backs his decision but :(( … i fear cricket is following hockey’s path … destruction …
the depressing thing is it is not stopping there … selection of PJ Mir makes no sense to me.
today world cricket of going forward faster than ever … improving day by day … widening the gap between professionals and so called “raw material”, but we are still stuck in our back-room politics
i feel pain in me, i feel powerless because i cant do anything for a pak-cric that i love so much, admire so much … whats the point of writing these blogs if nothing can be change through it.
cricket is the only game alive in pakistan but for how long???