Cricket in the Indian subcontinent is more than a sport. A loss hurts the cricket fans here more than anywhere else in the world and it is the kids who especially rejoice and get upset equally over the wins and losses of their teams. 


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The same happened after Pakistan went down against Australia in the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2021 in Dubai. 


After winning the toss, Pakistan were asked to bat and thanks to fifties from Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman, Pakistan posted 176 on the board. It looked like a winning total, more so after pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi removed Australia's opening batter and captain Aaron Finch in just the first over of the chase. From that point, Pakistan dominated proceedings till the 17th over of the innings. 


This was when Matthew Wade and Marcus Stoinis began to open up and then came the decisive 19th over of Afridi, wherein he got hit for three consecutive sixes by Wade that sealed the game for Australia. 


Australia entered the final after breaking millions of Pakistani hearts. And it hurt the fans more because of the way their team had played throughout the World Cup. 


The Babar Azam-led side had not lost a single game up till the semi-finals. 


Former Pakistan pace Shoaib Akhtar posted a video on 12 November in which a kid can been seen hugely upset with the loss while watching the match on TV. His father is there, trying to console the kid but he is so upset that it is difficult to calm him down. 


Akhtar posted the video on his Instagram to tell the world why fan engagement is important as even a loss stirs the emotions in them, be it a 12 year old or a 60 year old. 



Pakistan have now flown to Bangladesh where they are going to play 3 T20s and 2 Tests, starting 19 November in Dhaka.