Islamabad, Mar 02: In a muted and subdued reaction to its cricket team's worst ever World Cup defeat to traditional rivals India, the Pakistan media avoided a hard-hitting stance and restricted itself to rhetoric-free staid match reports. The media's posture has something to do with the grim possibility of Pakistan still qualifying for the Super Sixes and extracting revenge from India in the semi-finals or final.
And it is this remote possibility alone which seems to have spared its team and the military-dominated cricket establishment of an impending crisis.
Extremely guarded in their analysis of the high-voltage match, the media in general praised the heroics of Sachin Tendulkar while criticising the wayward Pakistani attack.
Spirits here ran high when Pakistan finally shook of its miserable batting form and made 273 runs with Saeed Anwar making a century. But a pall of gloom descended soon after the blitzkrieg launched by Sachin Tendulkar and Virendra Sehwag on the famed pace bowling of Pakistan's trio of Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar and Waqar Younis.
Commentators and former cricketers repeatedly made mention over various television channels that Pakistan still had a faint chance to qualify for Super Sixes if it defeated Zimbabwe and then took on India again either in semis or final of the World Cup. Bureau Report