Misbah-ul-Haq draws hope from Pak's 1992 side

Pakistan, engulfed by a series of on and off-field controversies, have lost both of their opening two games — by 76 runs to India and 150 runs against the West Indies. They are bottom of Pool B and defeat by Zimbabwe today will virtually condemn them to an early exit.

But Pakistan have been down this road before. Twenty-three years ago, when the World Cup was last played in Australia and New Zealand, Imran Khan’s team were also staring at early elimination.

They lost by 10 wickets to West Indies, beat Zimbabwe, had a no-result when about to be defeated by England before two more losses to India and South Africa. They then went on a roll, seeing off Australia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand to make the semi-finals. The Kiwis were defeated again in the Last 4 before the title was clinched against England.

“The important lesson is never give up,” said Misbah. “That’s what you need to do as a player and as a team. That’s what Imran Khan usually says about 1992. Even when the team was in difficult times, they never gave up. They just kept trying, kept trying, and kept trying. At last they just managed to do what they really wanted to do in that World Cup. So, that’s what we are trying to do.”