The upper echelons of the national mainstream as well as cricket management came to back up the Babar Azam eleven, hours after their last ball defeat to arch-rival India in the opening match of the T20 World Cup on Sunday.

An unbeaten 82 from Virat Kohli led India to a last-ball win over Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, in a high-octane match that unfolded several dramatic events in front of 90,000 fans and millions watching on the screens.

There was a sense of frustration on both sides. Pakistanis rued the last-over bloopers from Muhammad Nawaz, while several Indian netizens were unhappy at Ravichandran Ashwin, who dropped a catch of Shan Masood.

Nawaz gifted India two wides and a no-ball in the final over. On the fourth ball, Kohli struck the no-ball for six to earn a free hit. Crumbling under pressure, Nawaz then bowled a wide to give Kohli another free hit.

“No ball free hit bowled three runs lol!! Very much like how england won the world cup over maximum boundaries! Gentleman game rules are harsh sometimes!” tweeted Aiman Anwar.

This should be probed? I don’t know. What do the experts and the rules say? Because that ball was the #turningpoint and @babarazam258 could be seen protesting with the umpires right after,” Ali Zafar wrote on Twitter.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shahbaz Gill in a tweet blamed captain Babar Azam for the defeat. “Pakistan needs a new captain. Babar is a great batsman but can’t not play attacking captainship. That makes Pakistan lose matches,” Gill wrote.

However, considering that the Pakistani team fought till the end and tried their best to save the match, Prime Minister Shehbaz came to their rescue and bucked the Green Shirts up. “Brilliant effort, Team Pakistan. Great game!” he said.

His sentiments were echoed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz, who appreciated the team for employing efforts while rooting for it for the next match.

“There’s no shame in going down while putting up a valiant fight. It’s the effort that matters and we saw lots of it today. The match was an absolute cliffhanger and could’ve gone anywhere. Buck up Boys & gear up for the next fight!”

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja also praised the team for putting up a “classic” show and said that he was “proud” of it. “A classic! You win some you lose some and as we all know this game can be cruel and unfair Team Pakistan couldn’t have given more with bat and ball. Very proud of the effort!” he wrote in a tweet.

Cricketers Sohaib Malik and Immad Wasim also supported the team saying that Pakistan were fully capable of bouncing back strongly in the World Cup. They urged the players to focus on the next game against Zimbabwe on October 27.

“Keep your head high boys, this is just the start of the tournament. Let’s focus on the next match in Perth & get the momentum back. Remember the whole nation is behind you as always,” Malik tweeted.

“It takes a lot of courage to ball the last over as a spinner, especially the magnitude of this contest, Nawaz well tried, hard luck Pakistan IA [Insah Allah] we will bounce back strong, long way to go,” said Immad Wasim.

 (With input from News Desk)