ICC U-19 World Cup 2026: Pakistan's U-19 team surprised everyone with their lack of effort in the run chase against Zimbabwe in the ongoing ICC U-19 World Cup 2026 in Harare. They went on to beat Zimbabwe by 8 wickets on Thursday and made it to the Super Six, but their victory triggered a backlash that had little to do with the performance of the players.
Chasing a small target of 129 runs in a Group C match in the ongoing tournament, Pakistan reached 132/2 in 26.2 overs and booked their place in the next round, while a few overs of “how” ended up writing Scotland’s exit. They took advantage of the tournament rules to give themselves the best net run rate possible in the next stage of the competition. Zimbabwe's qualification on net run rate, along with Pakistan in Group C, came at the expense of Scotland's elimination, who looked poised to qualify midway through the Men in Green's run chase. Had they won before 25.2 overs, Scotland, not Zimbabwe, would have qualified for the Super Sixes.
Former international Andy Flower, who was commentating on the game, defended Pakistan's "cunning tactics."
"I thought it was a justifiable tactic on their part," Flower told ESPNcricinfo. "When they go through to the Super Sixes, they will take their net run rate, which will include the Zimbabwe game but doesn't include the Scotland game. That means their net run rate is better than if Scotland went through.
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"They needed to first establish they weren't going to lose the game, and then they just slowed down to make sure Zimbabwe got through. Some people may question the ethics of that, but I personally don't."
Interestingly, between the 16th and the 25th overs, Pakistan played 50 dot balls and scored only 27 runs across 10 overs. There was also a stretch of 89 balls without a boundary. Fans were quick to react with a surprise end to the Pakistan vs Zimbabwe game. One side calls it sharp thinking and strategy, while the other calls it manipulation dressed up as a tactic.
Why did Pakistan want Zimbabwe to qualify?
The Under-19 World Cup follows a carry-forward system into the Super Sixes. Teams take their points, and net run rate (NRR) only from matches played against fellow qualifiers, and results against eliminated teams are discarded. Pakistan had registered a victory over Scotland with 6.5 overs to spare. However, they were poised to get a much larger win against Zimbabwe, but that wouldn't have ensured them a benefit in the Super Six stage if the latter were eliminated from the group.
Notably, the ICC’s code allows scrutiny of whether Pakistan's actions will be seen as an attempt to manipulate the match result for inappropriate strategic reasons, including net run rate.