One of the Pakistani journalists was humming the evergreen Kishore Kumar song, Chalte Chalte merey yeh geet yaad rakhna, as he left the Eden following Babar Azam and Co.’s training session on Thursday.
That song probably summed up the current mood in the Pakistan camp, especially after New Zealand’s massive win over Sri Lanka in Bangalore. It will only amount to hoping against hope now if Pakistan still believe they can make the semi-finals of this World Cup.
Given the current equation, a huge win against England — who arrived in Calcutta on Thursday evening — here on Saturday also won’t be enough as Pakistan need something bigger than a miracle at this stage.
The players and the coaching staff were glued to the television set at the Eden dressing room as Pakistan’s practice began almost 45 minutes behind the scheduled time. One could also gauge from their body language that there was a drop in intensity at training following the Black Caps’ win.
However, team director Mickey Arthur made the likes of Babar and Mohammad Rizwan have another round with the bat at nets, where focus was only on playing the big strokes.
