'We are very disappointed'

Dubai: Expatriates from Pakistan, India and Bangla-desh living in Dubai were livid about their teams' performances in World Cup matches on Saturday. Following are excerpts from a cross of reactions obtained by Gulf News on Sunday.

Pakistanis:
Reverend professor Emannuel Bahadur, Church of Pakistan in Dubai and Sharjah:

"Pakistan had two good fast bowlers, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, who were dropped at the last minute and not allowed to compete, and that might have disturbed the whole team. We had hoped that the team would at least get to the semifinals. We are very disappointed and wondering what went wrong."

Sajid Nasir, 38, a computer engineer:
"The team was not that good - at the first opportunity we are out of the World Cup. "They can perform very well but they were very disappointing this time. At least they should have reached the semifinals. This wasn't satisfactory."

Shehzad Ahmad:
"Pakistan are not used to playing on a grassy pitch. They like dry pitches. This could be one reason they performed so badly. I'm sure they were under a lot of pressure too, especially because they lost against West Indes. They must have been tense. Besides, the openers were new."

Shahzad Butt, director of business development for the Chelsea Group:
"The main problem lies with the preparation, which was not in the right direction for our team.

"There was not a right opening batting combination. For the last three years, we've been trying 15 or 20 different combinations and we still haven't been able to find the right one. That's the main problem area."

Indians:

Abdul Nazir Kanniyath, 35, an accountant:
"India were too optimistic that they would win. The batting was very bad, while Bangladesh's bowling was very good. India will improve. They have failed before and then gone on to improve. These things happen. With time we'll win. "I am very disappointed with what happened because I love India."

Ashok Shankar, a tailor:
"The Bangladeshis fielded, bowled and batted perfectly. India were the senior team - Bangladesh are a small cricketing nation - and yet Bangladesh won. As an Indian, I was shocked by what happened."

Kamal Vachani, director of Al Maya Group:
India is not doing well at all. I don't know why. Maybe there's a lot of pressure on them. I'm in China now and the Indian community here has been following the world cup. We were shocked to see India lose to Bangladesh. We didn't have a good opener but I think Sourav Ganguly saved the show. The Indian people have high expectations of their team.

Bharat Bhai Shah, chairman of Al Mustanid Trading Company:
India's performance has been most disgusting and disappointing. I never expected such hopeless playing. It's as if they came having decided to be defeated. Sehwag should not have been taken off. India should not have batted first."

Bangladeshis:

Ali Ahsan Babu, manager of Biman Air:
Being a former cricketer and active member of the Bangladesh cricket board, I am very happy for the Bangladesh team for the fantastic game they played against India. India are known to be better than Bangladesh, but our team has young players who need to be given credit. They have more determination."

Mohsin Liton, watchman:
I watched the game on television and couldn't believe it when my country won. India is a very strong team and I didn't expect Bangladesh to win. Bangladesh was known to be a weak team and now that has changed. I think our batters were the strongest players. The team represented us well.

Tajul Eslam, paper boy:
I was almost 70 per cent sure that India would win. Nobody expected Bangladesh to win the match. Our team was never that good but we've come very far. India played well too, but they made very few runs. Inshallah, Bangladesh will reach the second round."