Muhammed Sarim Akhtar, a manager in a private audit firm, became internet sensation within minutes of his reaction to Asif Ali’s dropping catch right before him during Pakistan vs Australia World Cup 2019 match in England.
Exclusively talking to Dialogue Pakistan the ‘meme guy’ had said, “It was so easy. We saw the ball coming and it felt as if it will come towards us. Asif dropped it and it extremely disappointed us as David Warner was playing brilliant innings.”
Soon Sarim Akhtar’s reaction started doing rounds not just in Pakistan but in England, India and other parts of the world as well. People started relating him to their daily life disappointments and made funny meme out of his expressions. ICC Digital Insider Zainab Abbas conducted his first interview then a large number of media outlets followed suit and Dialogue Pakistan was amongst the first ones.
Inspired by the meme guy, a group of friends got their T-shirts imprinted with his picture for South Africa match. When asked that what made them do this, a female group member said he encapsulated all their emotions through the World Cup 2019 – love, hope, disappointment, anger and frustration. “So, when we saw his face we were like whether we win or lose his face is going to represent us.”
She even wittingly declared that “I think we won the South Africa game because when the team saw this they thought that never again.”
A man donning the T-shirt imprinted with Sarim’s pic said, “I think this is going to be the universal emoji for drop catches. As Pakistani fans we know what it feels as we have dropped 14, I think. But, they are going really good, right now. Hopefully, we are gonna change his expressions very soon.”
When asked that Pakistan’s performance had greatly improved ever since the match, one guy said, “This is meant to ward off all the bad omens and I think we have succeeded so far. Hopefully, we wont need to see faces like this up till the final.”
