NEW YORK: Despite embarrassing back-to-back losses to the United States and India, Pakistan fans remain hopeful that the Babar Azam-led team would advance to the T20 World Cup’s next round.
Indeed, a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Canada at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday gave them new optimism.
The current scenario for Pakistan at the global event is as follows: if India beats the US and Ireland in their remaining Group A matches, and Pakistan wins their final group match against Ireland, the Green-shirts have a chance to advance to the Super Eight round of the 20-nation extravaganza.
Rabia Aftab, who traveled from Michigan to attend Pakistan’s match versus Canada, expressed her delight at Pakistan’s victory.
Shiraz, another Pakistan supporter, stated that he still expected the squad to advance in the global competition.
She stated that following Pakistan’s defeat to India, she decided to travel to New York to support Pakistan.
“I love Pakistan, that’s why I’m here to support my team,” she told Dawn on Tuesday.
“Today, we won [against Canada]. I am quite thrilled. “Let us hope for the best in Pakistan’s next match against Ireland,” he said.
Abrar Shah, a Pakistani-American living in New York who attended Tuesday’s match with his family, expressed his heartfelt support for Pakistan.
“Pakistan could have won comfortably against India [while chasing 120 for victory] but poor planning deprived us of the chance to celebrate,” he said.
Mujtaba Ali expressed disappointment with Pakistan’s dismal six-run defeat to India.
“Our bowlers did an excellent job against India, but the batters failed to capitalise on this golden opportunity to defeat India,” he told Dawn, adding that as a result, the Green-shirts’ chances of qualifying for the Super Eight appeared poor.
“[But] still we are looking towards this team because we love Pakistan,” he said.
