This World Cup, let’s subtract the cricket from Pakistan cricket for a moment.

Take everything away: the feeble batting, bowling in disarray, team changes by the game and some dangerously poor fielding, and you are still left with so much to unpack. This isn’t a World Cup of crumbling dreams; instead it’s been a waking nightmare, each domino falling to knock over another. And even with all that, Pakistan still have a decent shot at the semi-finals.

Where do we begin from? Let’s try to match the actual timeline of events.

Will they, won’t they?

Let’s start from the start. For the longest time, it wasn’t clear if Pakistan would send a team at all. “Don’t play the Asia Cup in Pakistan, and we won’t send a team for the World Cup” was the message. Months later, a hybrid model meant Pakistan were doing ridiculous amounts of travel for the Asia Cup they were supposedly hosting, shuttling between Multan, Pallekele, Lahore and Colombo.

Visas please

A week after their Asia Cup ended, Pakistan found themselves in the middle of a visa tangle. Just days away from their first warm-up fixture, the team’s visa-less passports were stuck in the embassy. They finally came barely 48 hours before that match. Yet, it wasn’t the only visa issue the Pakistan contingent would have.

Where are the fans?

One visa hassle was followed by a more obvious one. Pakistan scribes and fans couldn’t travel for the first week, held up by visas that didn’t come.There was no progress until the eve of the India-Pakistan game, and both fans and journalists started trickling in.

Where’s Dil Dil Pakistan?

Pakistan’s representation was more inside the press box than in the stands in Ahmedabad. After a crushing defeat, team director Mickey Arthur opened up a storm, first calling it a “BCCI event, not an ICC event”, and then complaining about the absence of Pakistan’s unofficial team anthem at the venue.

Crowd trouble for Rizwan

It didn’t end there in Ahmedabad. Mohammad Rizwan was heckled by the crowd, who chanted religion-themed slogans at him as he walked into the pavilion. At the toss, Babar Azam was booed. The PCB put out a statement condemning the treatment, while also bringing up the issue of no visas with the ICC. Later, a Bengaluru police officer was captures on camera allegedly not allowing a Pakistan supporter to chant Pakistan Zindabad (“Long Live Pakistan”).

Illness strikes

For several days, multiple players in the Pakistan camp suffered from illness. A few of them missed matches, leading to last-minute changes to the XI, and, in general, confusion over team selection. There was also confusion over the nature of the illness: it was initially said to be just fever, not viral infection, although the latter was widely reported.

Media manager called back

No official statements, but Pakistan’s media manager was reportedly sent back to Pakistan by the PCB, after a fall-out with a senior journalist. Among the accusations were: “he wears shorts in the press box”, “speaks only to India and Australia journalists” and “doesn’t give interviews and inside news”. He was replaced by the same media manager who was under scrutiny during the Asia Cup after being spotted in a Colombo casino.

Payments dispute

Several local journalists have reported that Pakistan are in the middle of a payment dispute, and are playing without pay for four-five months. When asked about it, PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf said that the contracts were ready, but couldn’t be signed in time due to the team’s departure.

Someone pick up Babar’s call

According to Rashid Latif, Babar tried to contact Zaka Ashraf over the payment issue, but did not get any response. In a TV interview, Ashraf claimed that Babar never contacted him, as team captains don’t interact directly with the chairman.

Babar’s leaked chats

Things turned murkier when a television channel decided to share Babar’s WhatsApp chat messages with the PCB COO on air. In the chat, Babar is seen being asked if he had reached out to the chairman, to which he replied he never called Ashraf.

I’m sure you have many questions, we all do.

Team ‘discord’ and a statement that made no sense

Through the tournament, there emerged reports of ‘discord’ within the team, following up from the same theme at the Asia Cup. Surprisingly, PCB decided to pay heed to these reports, putting out a statement that there were no disagreements and that the team was cohesive. Silence would have been enough?

Ill-timed statement, part 2

If one statement wasn’t enough, the PCB put out another one a few days later, indicating that important decisions pertaining to the future will be taken after the World Cup. It seemed like a post-mortem and a veiled attack on Babar and the staff, while Pakistan were still in contention for a semi-final spot.

Inzamam steps down

Two months into his second stint as chief selector, Inzamam-ul-Haq decided to step down following accusations of “conflict of interest”. According to reports, Inzamam is one of the directors of a UK-based company, which also has a director who works for a management firm that handles several of Pakistan’s top players.

Ashraf accused of ‘fragrant misdoings’

According to an ESPNcricinfo report, Ashraf was accused of “flagrant misdoings and unconstitutional decisions” by his own management committee member, who sent the email to Ashraf, the management committee as well as the Prime Minister’s Office and Sports Ministry.

Unimpressed Arthur

Arthur finds another subheading. After his BCCI v ICC statement sparked a storm, Arthur took a potshot at the PCB, saying that the board will end up “blaming everyone” after the World Cup, calling it “the way of the world”. Later, he compared the “massive security” for the Pakistan team “stifling”, comparing it to the Covid era, and complaining about the lack of opportunities to head out.

P.S. Biryani

We can’t end this without the mention of the B-word, which has followed the Pakistan team since their entry in India. Repeatedly questioned by broadcasters and journalists about how the biryani was in India, it all reached an amusing turn when the team reportedly couldn’t find biryani in their hotel menu in Kolkata. They ended up ordering it from Zomato.

And oh, Iftikhar Ahmed went on a mini-biryani rant: he said that only when the team is not doing well is “biryani” discussed in the media, and no one mentions it when they’re doing well. Brb, getting a plate.

Their campaign, though struggling and coughing, is still alive for them. It all boils down to their fixture against New Zealand, which could be affected by yet another obstacle: rain.

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