Adil Najam
How do I feel today with Pakistan having lost to India in the Semi-Final of the 2011 Cricket World Cup?
I feel exactly as I did on November 4, 1987. I was at the Ghaddafi Stadium in Lahore, as a sports reporter for the newspaper The Muslim, covering the Semi-Final match between Pakistan and Australia in the 1987 World Cup. Pakistan was the clear favorites. Pakistan lost.
How did that feel? Pretty much as today feels. It felt like this:
But as a reader wrote on my earlier post, I am sad, but not angry. Nor am I ashamed or dejected. In an odd sort of way, I am fulfilled. We tried our best.
Today was not our best day; but frankly it was not our worst day either. There have been many days in recent weeks and months when I was ashamed of what was being done in my name. Today was not one of those days. Today, I took many blows, but I stand tall. Today, I wait for tomorrow. Because, tomorrow is another day.
Congratulations, Team India on a well-earned victory.
Thank you, Team Pakistan, for a month full of thrills and chills and making us come together as a country again. Your fielding was rather pathetic, but you have made us proud nonetheless!
Actually The role played by Misbah and Younis in this defeat needed to be probed.Iam an Indian but I really felt sad to see Younis and Misbah not rotating the strike and not going for their shots when the situation demanded so.They put immense pressure on Young Akmal and Afridi.Well done My nighbour U have a great future.
Baiju AS
Kerala
India
Thank you Pakistan for the thrills in this World Cup. Without your mercurial performances this World Cup would have been a relatively dull affair. Given the hell the Pakistani team has been through this last year, this was an incredibly spirited performance. You guys may be horribly disappointed right now. But you should be incredibly proud.
Afridi is a national treasure. Hope you guys treat him that way.
Cheer up Pakistan. You gave a good fight.
First of all congratulations to indian team & indian nation for this win, as they deserved it at the end of the day just because of the fact that they handled the pressure better.
Just to second on what has already been said, we can bow out of tournament with our heads held high.
As a keen follower of pakistani cricket ,as many others, I have witnessed the matches live on the field in last year here in U.K. Just remembering that time when you were just waiting for another non cricketing relating incident to happen and seeing pak team in headlines for all the wrong reasons was a mental torture in itself.
But hats off to waqar, afridi & co to overcome that & for the first time in many years finish a tournament where everyone can say…they gave their 110 % !
We were & will remain proud of you green shirts…
Absolutely wonderful post- Thank you so very much!
Really felt bad when Afridi said that they are sorry for the loss- he shouldn’t have! It was not our day, that’s the only thing. We do Love you Team Pakistan and we are so very proud of you.