Virender Sehwag bids Pakistan farewell from ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 ahead of England game

ICC Cricket World Cup 2023: New Zealand Cricket Team's emphatic victory over Sri Lanka has all but eliminated Pakistan from the semi-final race in the ongoing competition.

New Zealand - who now have 10 points after 9 games - possess a better net run rate (0.743) than the Men In Green (8 points in 8 games, and 0.036 NRR) in the quadrennial showpiece. For Pakistan to leapfrog New Zealand in NRR, they will have to secure a win by a margin of 287 runs or more.

Pakistan Cricket Team World Cup Semi-Final Chances

While chasing, the Babar Azam-led side needs to win with 284 balls to spare against England in their last league match of the competition. Such results look impractical, although not impossible as the game of cricket has witnessed some miraculous wins in the past.

Virender Sehwag Trolls Pakistan

Hence, a winning margin of such staggering proportions in this game between Pakistan and England looks like a far-fetched dream. With their dreams all but over, former India cricketer Virender Sehwag took to his handle on X, formerly known as Twitter, and bid them goodbye from the competition.

Sehwag captioned the image carrying the message 'Bye Bye Pakistan' and wrote on his handle on X, "Pakistan Zindabhaag! Have a safe flight back home."

The post from the 2011 World Cup winner, who has a massive following (23.5 million followers on the micro-blogging platform alone) might not go down well with several Pakistan Cricket Team fans.

Taking strong exception to Sehwag's Pakistan Zindabhaag jibe, one of the Pakistani journalists took the humour to a completely different level branding his post as anti-Muslim. He went on saying that India is unsafe for Muslims.

"Disgusting! Virender Sehwag, a former international cricketer of India, is giving threats to Pakistan to escape from India alive. ICC and Foriegn Office must take an immediate notice for the safety of Pakistan cricket team. This is how unsafe India is for Muslims," wrote journalist Wazahat Kazmi.

A charged-up England will look for a win against Pakistan and qualify for the Champions Trophy when the two sides clash on Saturday (November 11). As things stand, it's a four-way race with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Netherlands also in the mix with England.

Their 160-run win over the Netherlands in the last match has given down-and-out England the much-needed late charge as they have climbed up to the seventh spot and face the easiest equation among the four teams.

A win against Pakistan should seal the spot, considering that both Bangladesh and the Netherlands face tough opponents in Australia and India respectively, and also have inferior NRRs than England.