Was Scotlands Under-19 World Cup Exit Engineered by Pakistan?

The Under-19 World Cup has taken a shocking turn just in the Group stages. Scotland has been knocked out of the tournament, being just a part of the group stages. The match between Pakistan and Zimbabwe came out to be a decider for Scotland, but Zimbabwe finished at a higher net run rate.

1. How PAK vs ZIM Became a Controversy?

Pakistan was truly the strong team against Zimbabwe in this game. And fans thought that it would be a big loss for Zimbabwe, allowing Scotland to be a part of the Super Sixes. But Pakistan seems to have some other plans, despite being the stronger team in this game.

Zimbabwe was batting first in this game and they faced the wrath of . Only Nathaniel Hlabangana was able to bring up a half-century, while the other batters failed to score well. Ali Raza took 3 wickets, while Mohammad Sayyam, Abdul Subhan, and Momim Qamar took 2 wickets each.

If they continued to play at the same pace, and Zimbabwe would have been eliminated. But the team went on to lower their scoring rates. This was done by their opener Sameer Minhas and top order batsman, Ahmed Hussain.

When the 26th over was completed, Zimbabwe had a higher run rate than Scotland. After this, Sameer Minhas finished the game with two consecutive sixes to help Pakistan win the game. Despite losing, Zimbabwe has now made it to the Super Sixes of the tournament, while Scotland has now been eliminated.

While Scotland has now been knocked out of the Under-19 World Cup, the team might be able to participate in the T20 World Cup 2026. This is due to the tensions between India and Bangladesh, as the Bangladeshi team is unwilling to participate in the tournament if their matches are held in India. They had a long talk with the ICC regarding this matter, and cited security concerns.

But the ICC investigated the same and ruled out that the team is having no security issues in India. Along with that, Bangladesh was given a time of 24 hours to decide whether they will participate in the T20 World Cup or not. And if they do not participate in the tournament, their spot will be given to the next best team, which is .

At the same time, some reports also talk about Pakistan's support to Bangladesh in this matter. The team also had their tensions with India, due to which their matches are neither played in Pakistan or India, similar to what Bangladesh has demanded.