ICC World Cup: Can Pakistan make it to the semi-finals?

The team lost their match against Australia by 62 runs, losing 2 points overall

Transcript

00:00 Hi, I'm Ayaz Mehmed with the World Cup Update.

00:02 Pakistan lost a wonderful chance to get two points against Australia.

00:06 Ultimately, they were beaten by 62 runs.

00:09 But they had their moments in the match,

00:12 especially when David Warner miscued a stroke of Shaheen Shah of Ridhi.

00:17 But the dolliest of dolly catches was muffed by Osama Mir.

00:23 And it just kind of frittered away Pakistan's prospects in that match

00:28 because Warner, who was intent, went on to smash 161.

00:33 And Australia went on to post 367, which was a massive score.

00:40 But despite that, Pakistan also got off to a very good start.

00:43 A century partnership between Imam ul Haq and Asadullah Shafiq.

00:47 But they couldn't build from there.

00:49 Largely, I think Pakistan's problems have been

00:51 Babar Azam's inability to convert a good start into a big score.

00:56 So they were not left with much batting after that,

01:00 except for Mohamad Rizwan, some partnership with Saud Shakeel.

01:05 But the all-round is also not clicking.

01:06 Not Mohamad Nawaz, not Iftiqar Ahmed, before that Shahdaab, Shahdaab Khan.

01:10 So it's a Pakistan team that has failed to deliver on its promise.

01:15 Remember, when this tournament started, they were amongst the top four teams.

01:18 But increasingly, and especially after defeats to India and Australia,

01:24 they are on a slippery slope now.

01:28 I mean, they can still make it technically into the semis,

01:31 but it's going to be tough because they've got some big teams to play.

01:34 And winning against big teams is not easy if you are struggling in your batting, in your bowling.

01:40 In fact, I think that they are struggling even to, in a sense, it's in self-belief.

01:47 Pakistan's problem, I think, in this tournament has been one of self-belief.

01:50 They don't think, the players, that they are good enough to win.

01:54 And that translates into performances on the field.

01:56 So, as I said earlier, it's not, it's not, you can't dismiss them outright.

02:02 Strange things, uncertain things happen in this sport.

02:07 And we've seen that in, with Afghanistan getting the better of England

02:11 and the Netherlands beating South Africa.

02:13 So, Pakistan, still afloat, but they'll have to improve dramatically from here

02:18 to make it into the semifinals.

02:20 [Music]

02:26 (upbeat music)