Cricket fans express anger, dismay over Pakistan's poor World Cup performance

With the Pakistan cricket team's World Cup 2023 journey coming to an end on Saturday, cricket fans have taken to social media to express their anger, and dismay over the team's underwhelming performance leading to elimination from the mega-event.

Babar Azam-led side, facing defending champions in their last group match, needed to chase down the target in merely 3.4 overs to improve their net run rate (NRR) to that of New Zealand's. However, as soon as the English side surpassed the 150-run mark, it became virtually impossible for the Green Shirts to stay in the tournament.

With four losses in eight matches — including a defeat to arch-rivals India and Afghanistan — the Men in Green with a NRR of 0.036 are ranked fifth at the points table.

As the national side crashed out of another World Cup, cricket fans took to social media to express their disappointment over the team's poor performance in all three departments which eventually resulted in the team being eliminated from the tournament.

"Who is responsible for Pakistan's World Cup elimination?" Farid Khan said while stressing due accountability regarding the team's poor performance.

Meanwhile, Saad blamed the entire squad especially prominent players including skipper Babar and lead pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi for the team's short-lived World Cup journey.

Another user Hamxa wrote: "Everyone is responsible for this humiliation whether it's the captain, batters, bowlers or fielders."

Imran Siddiqui criticised the team's bowling contending that it wouldn't have made any difference even if Sri Lanka had defeated New Zealand.

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra — without taking any name — also took a subtle jibe sharing a meme hinting at Pakistan's elimination from the mega-event.

Kamran Ali took a sarcastic approach to criticise Pakistan's underwhelming journey in the ongoing tournament by sharing a fielding hiccup with the caption "Pakistan's World Cup campaign in a nutshell."

Both England and Pakistan are now playing for pride as they are eliminated from the ongoing tournament as calls for strict scrutiny grow stronger.

Meanwhile, skipper Babar has already started consultations with his close aides about his future and reportedly made up his mind to quit whit-ball captaincy, sources said.