Over sips of milk tea at a cafe in the Pakistani city of Karachi on Friday morning, Jaffer Ahmed analyzed the national cricket team’s surprise loss to the United States.
“This is unbelievable and shameful,” said Ahmed, 26, as he ate a bite of bread and lamented the defeat with his friends. “How can we, with our history in cricket, lose to a country that doesn’t even have cricket in its DNA?”
Losing to the United States on Thursday in the men’s T20 World Cup was a humiliation in Pakistan, where cricket is the most popular sport and part of the national identity. The national team won the World Cup in 1992, coached by Imran Khan, who later parlayed his sporting fame into a political career that included becoming prime minister.
Many Americans did not realize the magnitude of their victory in Dallas. But he felt deeply about the losing, cricket-mad nation. When fans woke up to the news, they began trying to digest what had happened, watching highlights of the match in the streets.
“We should teach the United States,” said Muhammad Sagheer, 32, “not to lose to them.”
The fans were furious at their team’s poor performance. Players dropped catches and missed bats, providing crucial opportunities for the Americans, said Feroz Shah, 30, who called Pakistan’s game a disaster.
Pakistan had already been struggling, in part because recent leadership changes in the team and the national cricket board have damaged morale, Aatif Nawaz, a British-Pakistani cricket commentator, said in a video.
“A bitter pill to swallow for Pakistan fans who have rarely seen darker times,” he wrote on social media after Thursday’s game, calling it one of the biggest upsets in sports history.
The United States, which has never played in the World Cup, has arrived late to the international cricket stage. He is ranked 18th in the world. Pakistan is in sixth place. Thursday’s victory was the biggest yet for the American team.
“Pakistan looked exhausted and helpless on the field,” Waqar Younis, former Pakistan national team coach, wrote in social media. “Congratulations to the United States on a resounding victory.”
American interest in cricket is growing along with its South Asian diaspora. Investors have poured more than $1 billion into expanding the sport nationally. The national league played its first season last year and team owners include Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. At the World Cup, the United States has a chance to qualify for the Super 8 round.
Some Americans celebrated their victory over Pakistan on social media, many of them amazed that one of the United States’ star players, Saurabh Netravalkar, has a day job as a senior engineer at Oracle.
“It’s a great achievement, you know, to beat Pakistan,” Monank Patel, the current captain, said after the victory. “I’m very proud of the boys.”
Another concern echoed throughout the Karachi cafe where Ahmed was having tea with friends. Pakistan is about to face India, its biggest competitor, on Sunday, in an event that will take over all the television screens of both nations.
“If we couldn’t beat the United States, how can we beat our archrival India?” Sagheer said.