Thaindian News

Islamabad, March 31 (IANS) The world of Twitter was abuzz as excitement built up to the India-Pakistan World Cup semifinal match. And, when they lost, Pakistanis across the world tweeted their sorrow but also sent out the message that it was a great match and their country should take the loss with “dignity and indeed, pride”.

Online comments from across the globe put out by Dawn on its website reflected the anguish among Pakistanis when India beat Pakistan by 29 runs at Mohali Wednesday. The match was witnessed by Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh.

Mehmudah Rehman wrote from Dubai: “Pakistan - hold your head up high, and take this loss with dignity and indeed, pride. We were down and out before the World Cup and have done remarkably well to make the semis. Cricket has won, and thank you India, for a great match! Pakistan Zindabad!

“There will be inevitable whispers of match-fixing and Misbah and Younis’ inning, plus the timing of the powerplay would have raised many eye-brows (mine almost went through my forehead)!”

Faisal Kapadia from Karachi wrote: “The main thing to cheer for here is that a team which no one counted as a threat made it this far whatever happens now… well played to team Pakistan.”

When Pakistani batsmen began to falter, Kapadia said: “I fail to understand why aren’t we going for it this 2 runs an over will never win us the match its up to Razzaq and Afridi Misbah is playing a test match”.

He also noted: “Yuvraj Singh may not have batted but he is bowling us out of the match.”

After Pakistan lost the match, an upset Saima Hussain from Toronto said: “Too bad this website won’t allow expletives…I have tons to offer right now ((((
Misbah….errrr…sahib… is still there wasting overs”.

Danish Lallany, also from Toronto, observed before the match began: “For starters, everyone has gone patriotic. People who didn’t follow cricket, or didn’t care about cricket, are now avid supporters with an Afridi or a Tendulkar display picture. Status updates have gone from being pro-Pakistan/pro-India to anti-Pakistan/anti-India. The videos of cricketing legends arguing over which team is a rickshaw and which one’s a bmw have increased the hype surrounding this encounter.”