There was a defining moment in the buildup to today's quarterfinal, where it was obvious that the Asian team would be unable to emerge victorious against Australia. It wasn’t in the actual loss of the giant strike bowler Mohammad Irfan to injury, but rather, in the manner with which Pakistan had lamented his loss.

It was almost as if Pakistan had already accepted that they couldn’t win without him.

For Misbah to consider his loss a ‘huge setback’ was fair enough, but for him to obsess about how ‘difficult’ it was to have lost two bowlers to suspension and then bemoan the losses of Umar Gul and Junaid Khan after reaching the quarterfinals was worrying.

It was a concern because Pakistan had already qualified for the quarterfinals with able replacements for the two seamers, and yet the captain was still living in the traumatic past.

I suppose we are to blame for some of this fear with the constant social media attacks on the cricketers that has extended to their official Twitter accounts, but at the same time, I wanted to shake the captain and say, “You are in the quarterfinals. Forget about Ajmal, Hafeez, Gul, and Junaid. Bring your mind back into the present. ”

This defeatist mindset was reflected in today’s game, where it seems only Wahab Riaz showed up like a cornered tiger, while the rest of the team were more in cowering kitten mode.

Michael Clarke fails to control a short delivery. —AP

Pakistan did not deserve to score even 213, and certainly rode their luck to the total. Incredibly, none of the batsmen were out bowled or LBW. Yes, all 10 batsmen were out caught on a pitch which was excellent for batting