By Admin 
A strange incident has come to light from the 2026 Under-19 World Cup, which has been raised by former Indian cricketer Akash Chopra. On January 22, Pakistan and Zimbabwe faced each other in the World Cup, in which the Pakistani team won by 8 wickets. Aakash Chopra alleged that Pakistan had deliberately slowed down the game so that Scotland would be out of the Under-19 World Cup.
The match between Pakistan and Zimbabwe was also very important for Scotland. If Zimbabwe had lost by a big margin, Scotland would have reached Super-6 on the basis of better net run rate. Pakistan was scoring runs rapidly and could have easily won within 20 overs. But due to slow batting, Pakistan team achieved the same target in 26.2 overs. Due to this, Zimbabwe’s net run rate has become better than Scotland. Aakash Chopra has objected to this slow batting.
The result was that now Zimbabwe’s net run rate is -2.916, while Scotland’s is -2.986. Scotland is out of the World Cup due to a very close margin. If Pakistan had won against Zimbabwe 5 more overs earlier, Scotland would have gone to Super-6.
Aakash Chopra made allegations
Aakash Chopra has made allegations against Pakistan team through social media post. He wrote, “Pakistan Under-19 team deliberately scored slowly to eliminate Scotland because their net run rate was better than Zimbabwe. Both have negative NRR, and you can see the difference.”
Aakash Chopra further said, “Deliberately manipulating the result to eliminate a third team is shameful. It is within the rules, but very disappointing. Is this what Under-19 players should be taught? Should they be praised for this?”
Pakistan U-19 deliberately slowed down to keep Scotland out because they had a better NRR than Zim. Just see the difference…both in negative and the difference is 🤦♂️
Deliberately manipulating the outcome to keep a third team out is in poor taste. Within the rules. But poor… pic.twitter.com/X4lxfm4fOr— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) January 23, 2026
Did the Pakistan team do this intentionally?
In this match played in Harare, Zimbabwe team, batting first, was all out after scoring only 128 runs. In reply, Pakistan had scored 88 runs after losing 2 wickets in 15 overs. The team was increasing the scoreboard at a run rate of around 6, then suddenly what happened that in the next 5 overs, Pakistani batsmen scored only 15 runs, while during this period no wicket of the Pakistani team fell. The score was 88/2 in 15 overs, but after that the Pakistani batsmen took 11.2 overs to reach the target of 129 runs.
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