Pakistan Vs South Africa World Cup 2019
Updated: Jun 21, 2020
Pakistan Vs South Africa
23rd June 2019
Lord’s Cricket Ground,
North London
Best bit, after the match win, of course, was the lively crowd. The get up, the passionate eyes, the chorus chants, the almost non stop cries of Zindabad, the en masse singing of Dil Dil Pakistan.
Whenever this de facto national anthem of the people from land of the pure would come on, the crowd would generate a shimmering electric pulse racing by joining instantly the rhythm of a heartbeat. The proud green and white would be unfurled, flying high in the North London breeze, men and women, boys and girls, young and old.... All would join the singing, drowning the very very few African fans down on their seats.
As Waqar Younis pointed out in one of his water-break interviews, "With a support like this, the team performance is due to get an up lift". "Where were all of you last week?" he enquired mischievously regarding the match against India.
Well Wiki, we were there. Some of us at least. But you lot did not help the cause by selecting the wrong team. The crowd can not play for the team. If the team is playing, then the crowd can help them increase their effectiveness, but the correct decisions have to be made by the players who are on the field.
Life of a Pakistan supporter would continue to waver between ecstasy of victory and the agony of defeat. We know that. Our team performance would continue to have moments of pure genius like those displayed by Haris and Wahab yesterday and the frustratingly depressing lapses in the field also amply displayed yesterday.
But as long as there are young children in the crowd starting the chants of Pakistan, Zindabad, as long as there are youngsters dancing on the tune of Nuch Majajan Nuch and as long as all and sundry keep on singing Pak Sar Zameen shaad baad in unison, our future as a nation is secured.
