Watch: Pakistanis stage mock funeral for cricket team after defeat
Facing West Indies, team gave up four wickets for one run, worst start in ODI history
Multan: Pakistani cricket fans in the southeastern city of Multan held a mock funeral for their national cricket team on Saturday after a record-shattering World Cup defeat at the hands of the West Indies.
Residents of the city organised a symbolic funeral procession, replete with a coffin with several cricket bats placed over it, directing their anger at the Pakistani national team after a poor start to the tournament that has also seen it defeated by arch-rivals India. This video has been doing the rounds on Twitter.
#Cricket Fans Offer Symbolic #Funeral #prayer of #Pakistani #Team After #Defeat by #WestIndies - http://t.co/zy0vIVzFTE via @dailymotionind
— Sidra Ayaz (@SidraAyaz) February 21, 2015
"This time we were really hoping for Pakistan to win. We don't want to watch this anymore," Shama Bibi, one of those taking part, told AFP.
Another demonstrator who gave her name only as Rafia blamed the Pakistan Cricket Board for what she said were poor selections and politicisation of the game. Cricket fans elsewhere in the country, meanwhile, staged their own protests to show their frustration with the national side.
Watch: Fury in Pakistan, fans smash TV sets
Chasing the West Indies's first innings total of 310 runs, Pakistan gave up its first four wickets for just one run -- the worst start in one-day international history – before eventually losing by 150 runs.
Pakistan, winners of the 1992 World Cup, now sit at the bottom of Pool B and will resume their faltering campaign against Zimbabwe in Brisbane on March 1.