A tweet by the International Cricket Council (ICC) with regard to Pakistan's chances of making the semifinals of the World Cup on Friday has caused a bit of a stir on social media.
Pakistan scored 315/9 in their allocated 50 overs against Bangladesh in their final World Cup group stage match on Friday. They needed to dismiss Bangladesh for seven runs or less to qualify for the semifinals and sure enough, the Bangladeshi openers wiped out that improbable chance within the first two overs.
Pakistan need to keep Bangladesh to 7 or below to qualify for the #CWC19 semi-finals...
— ICC (@ICC) July 5, 2019
Pakistan fans right now:#PAKvBAN | #WeHaveWeWIll pic.twitter.com/KuBVraJXHo
During the mid-innings break, the ICC tweeted the number of runs Bangladesh will have to be bowled out for with a GIF that was a clip from the 1994 Hollywood movie "Dumb and Dumber" featuring Jim Carrey in which the actor's character is gleefully saying, "So you're telling me there's a chance?"
Soon fans started accusing the ICC of trolling the Pakistan cricket team and its supporters. A number of conspiracy theories were also floated in the replies section, including that ICC and the big teams like India, England and Australia had conspired to get Pakistan knocked out and that the ICC Twitter account was controlled by Indian fans, among others.
After making a poor start to the tournament, Pakistan staged an impressive fight back to come close to qualifying for the semifinals. After they beat South Africa and New Zealand, fans and commentators noted the similarities between Pakistan's 2019 campaign and their 1992 campaign that ended with them winning the World Cup under the captaincy of the country's current Prime Minister Imran Khan.
However, England's win over India took Pakistan's chances of qualification out of their hands.
ICC is trolling Pakistan, which hints that it was the plan of ICC to exclude Pakistan from the semifinals. ICC is no more neutral. ICC is all about big 3.
— Yasir Iqbal Khan (@YaSiR___kHaN) July 5, 2019
Even ICC is trolling Pakistan😂😂 pic.twitter.com/IbWzGWASY8
— Crimson Sentry (@Northlate) July 5, 2019
When everyone tried to fixed #icc was sleeping when #indiavseng match was absolutely fixed #icc it self fixes match for #nzvseng also match was fixed
— Saliq Khan (@saliqanis) July 5, 2019
All the big three fixed only for pakistan to get them out from Cwc
Do some efforts to play with pakistan dont #cheet pic.twitter.com/0BHPGmHMdA
Pakistan's chances of qualifying for semis come to an end
Pakistan's slim chances of making the semifinals came to an end on Friday after they failed to keep up with the net run rate to finish inside the top four teams in their last group match against Bangladesh at the Lord's.
Fifth placed Pakistan needed to win the toss and bat first in order to still dream of achieving the improbable.
Faced with the challenge of beating Bangladesh by 311 runs after posting 350 or by 316 runs after scoring 400, Pakistan rode Imam-ul-Haq's run-a-ball 100 and Babar Azam's 96 to post 315/9 in 50 overs.
This meant they had to bowl out Bangladesh for seven runs or less, a task which was next to impossible. Chasing 316 for victory, Bangladesh openers Soumya Sarkar and Tamim Iqbal got the runs in two overs. It meant that New Zealand are the fourth and final time to qualify for the semifinals.
Pakistan's resurgence in the World Cup looked eerily close to the 1992 Cup-winning edition before India lost to hosts and pre-tournament favourites England which dented Pakistan's chances of making the semifinals.
And when New Zealand went down to the hosts, it was almost over for Sarfaraz and Co.
