LONDON – The participants of the ongoing ODI World Cup in England are considering just going back home after Pakistan’s match against Sri Lanka was washed out by rain.

The No Result in their third match of the ODI World Cup means that Pakistan have now started their World Cup campaign with exactly the same results as those that they had in the World Cup winning campaign of 1992.

Where Pakistan played West Indies in the opening match of 1992 as well and lost that match, they followed it up with a win over Zimbabwe, which has been mirrored by their triumph over England in 2019. Pakistan’s third match against England was washed out in 1992.

Furthermore, the two World Cups before 1992 had been won by India (1983) and Australia (1987), and the two World Cups before 2019 have been won by India (2011) and Australia (2015). 1992 is also the only edition that was played in the Round Robin format before 2019.

“Why go through the formality of even playing out the rest of the matches. We should just hand over the (World Cup) trophy to Pakistan now,” said Aaron Finch, captain of defending champions Australia, while talking to The Dependent.

“We all know they’re going to struggle a bit, and then miraculously make the semis with the help of other sides, and then beat us in the finals,” England captain Eoin Morgan told The Dependent.

“Or will they beat us in the semis, since they beat the then hosts New Zealand in the semis? How does this voodoo work exactly?” Morgan asked.