India vs Pakistan: This is how Pakistani fans react after their team loses

India will be facing arch rivals Pakistan on June 4 at the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, two years after they last played an ODI against one another at the World Cup 2015 where India handed out a humiliating defeat to Misbah-ul-Haq’s side.

The India-Pakistan cricket rivalry are stuff made of legends. The two teams first met on October 16, 1952, when Pakistan played a five-Test series in India. India were Pakistan’s first opponent after they gained Test status.

Over the years, Pakistan became a formidable team and trumped India in the overall number of wins in Test and ODI matches.

But Pakistani cricket soon began being riddled with controversies that took a toll on its performance. Star players like Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were banned by the International Cricket Council for match fixing. Rumors started doing round that the Akmal brothers called the shots in the team, thereby leading to infighting. And the final nail on the coffin was Taliban’s attack on the Sri Lankan national team in 2009. Almost all cricketing nations refused to tour Pakistan after that.

But Pakistani crickets perhaps has the most loyal legion of followers. Pakistani fans have an almost unparalleled love for their cricketers and for the game itself. But such immense love, if betrayed, can turn into frightening hate. And this holds true for the Pakistani cricket fans, especially if their team loses to India, their eternal nemesis. Here are four ways Pakistani fans have reacted to their country’s loss against India.

 

1. Burning effigies

Burning the effigies of people we hate is a common sight in India. Special rallies have been held to burn the effigies of politicians who failed to do their job. A similar sight in Pakistan had people burning the effigy of one of the most explosive batsmen of cricketing history, Shahid Afridi.

Pakistan had lost the Asia Cup T20 match in 2016 and Afridi was of the opinion that losing to India was not a big deal and that Pakistan would make a comedown. This did not go down well with anyone. Angry fans in the state of Punjab in Pakistan had burnt effigies of captain Afridi and of other players.

 

2. Holding mock funerals

Tensions were high, as always, during the World Cup 2015 when Pakistan without its main bowlers were to play India. The team was missing star spinner Saeed Ajmal, fast bowler Junaid Khan and all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez and were heavily relying on Misbah-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi to see them through. But the Indian bowlers restricted Pakistan to just 224 compared to 300 posted by the Indian team.

The loss infuriated Pakistani fans, They placed the masks of the Pakistani players over fake bodies and buried them, symbolising the death of the players’ careers and fans’ dreams.

 

3. Burning bats

A complete whitewash at Australia in in 2010 saw several Pakistani fans take to the streets and do what they do best. Burn stuff. This time it was cricketing bats. The dismal performance by Mohammad Yousuf’s side made the fans burn cricketing bats that looked similar to the ones that the players used. They even raised slogans like ‘Go Butt Go’ referring to then PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt, ‘Goodbye Pakistan Cricket’ and even an appeal to the then president which read ‘President Zardari, save Pakistan cricket’.

 

4. Breaking TV sets

This was the mother of all outrage seen over the years. Although this happened first when Pakistan lost the quarter finals to Australia in the World Cup 2015, this has become Pakistani fans’ favorite act to release their anger upon losing the match.

Pakistan were dismissed for just 213 runs and Australia chased them down with more than 16 overs to spare.

All hell broke loose in Pakistan. People in Multan and Karachi took their TV sets out in the streets and hammered it down to dust. People were seen dropping the sets on the streets, collective stamping on them and also raising slogans.

Taking a dig at these incidents, Virender Sehwag has asked the fans to keep radio sets handy this time.

 

Brother Faisal wasn't too pleased when Pakistan lost a cricket match

— Waj (@myconfusedface) March 21, 2015