ICC Under-19 World Cup | Did Pakistan do a Steve Waugh 'act'?

In the 1999 World Cup held in England, Australia employed a similar strategy against the West Indies, to gain advantage over New Zealand

Pakistan's 'go-slow' attitude while chasing a small target in the ongoing ICC Under-19 World Cup tie against Zimbabwe has raised a few eyebrows, while also evoking memories of a similar incident 'enacted' by the legendary Steve Waugh during a match held almost two-and-a-half decades back.

On Thursday (January 23), while chasing a modest target of 129 in their Group C fixture at Harare, Pakistan were cruising at 74 for two in 12 overs. But, suddenly they took the foot off the accelerator as they needed another 16 overs to knock off the remaining 36 runs.

It is presumed that Pakistan purposely slowed down the scoring rate so as to help Zimbabwe qualify over Scotland into the Super Six stage.

However for layman's knowledge, it is not something new to the 'Gentleman's Game'

Circa June 2, 1999

In the 1999 ICC World Cup held at the Old Blighty, Australian skipper Waugh employed a similar strategy and batted for 13 overs to score 19 runs against the West Indies, to gain advantage over New Zealand of the points being carried forward to the Super Six stage.

Waugh played 73 balls for his 19 runs, while Michael Bevan needed 69 balls for his 20 as Australia took 40.4 overs to chase down a small target of 111 in the match held at Old Trafford.

In both the matches separated apart by 26 years, a slow chase was better than a fast one as both the teams looked at the rules, found a loophole and exploited it to the maximum with sportsmanship taking a severe beating.

For the records, the ICC Under-19 World Cup which began in Zimbabwe on January 15 will end on February 6.

Champions in five of the 16 editions, India are by far the most dominant team in the history of the competition, which started back in 1988.