Pakistan shown the door- World Cup’07

Pakistan suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of minnows Ireland who showed them the door in the early stages of the World Cup. To add salt to injuries, the sad demise of coach Bob Woolmer following the disppointing performance of the Pakistani team has come as a big blow to the team and the entire cricketing fraternity which is shell shocked to say the least.

Following the sad demise of coach Woolmer and the ignominous exit of the team, Captain Inzamam ul Haq announced his retirement from one day international cricket and relinquished his test captaincy too. A classic instance of turmoil and Pakistani cricket team!

The team suffered a major blow to its World Cup campaign with two of it premier bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohd Asif being left out from the team for the tournament.

The team suffered a defeat at the hands of the hosts Windies in the opening game which implied that had to win their next two games . But the defeat at the hands of Ireland means they are out of the Championship even before the super 8 stage begins.

Batting first against Ireland, the Pakistan team scored an abominable low total of 132 runs. The batting lineup just fell apart as the batsmen just fell like a pack a cards with only three batsmen reaching double figures!

Defending a meagre total of 132 was always going to be an uphill task and without the likes of Akhtar and Asif the ask was a bit too much as was proved by the Irish batsmen. The Ireland team knocked off the runs losing 7 wickets in the process.

Just as I had mentioned, Pakistan is a team capable of surprising itself and that is exactly what happened in the match against Ireland. India is another team that seems to be taking a leaf out of Pakistan as was evident in the shoddy batting display of the team that lead to the defeat at the hands of the spirited Bangladeshi team!

To win the World Cup, its team that matters and not individuals. Batsmen would have to score and give something to their bowlers to bowl at. Only then will there be a contest!