Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur was left disappointed after India’s defeat to England in what was a must-win game for the hosts in the ongoing World Cup. On June 30, England defeated India by 31 runs and kept their hopes alive of making it to the semifinals. “How they (India) played, again that’s the issue which we can’t control,” Arthur told reporters on Tuesday. “Obviously, I was following the game intently and was disappointed that India did not get up because that would have opened the door for us. “Now all we want is to get to Friday with a real opportunity and our destiny in our own hands,” he added. Had India won against England, Pakistan would have then just needed to win against Bangladesh to make it to the knockouts. However, now, they have to depend on the result of Wednesday’s match between England and New Zealand.
If the Three Lions defeat the Black Caps, then they would qualify for the semifinals and Pakistan will get knocked out of the tournament.
However, all the Pakistani fans and the team would hope that New Zealand can recover from two straight defeats to beat England at Chester-le-Street, which would open the door for the Green Brigade to reach the semis by beating Bangladesh at Lord’s on Friday. “I just hope New Zealand get it done for us,” said Arthur.
“If New Zealand don’t (win) then we hope England win by a big-enough margin and then we calculate what we have to do with our net run-rate, which I think is probably too much,” he added.
Earlier, former Pakistan cricketers Basit Ali and Sikander Bakht had alleged that the Men in Blue might intentionally lose to England to oust Pakistan from the tournament. Even former Pakistan captain Waqar Yunus had questioned India’s sportsmanship after a concentrated effort to rally support for India among Pakistani fans on the social media by a number of celebrities.
