Those two dropped catches against Sri Lanka in the final of Asia Cup 2022 will continue to haunt Pakistan players for a while – at least online.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, an avid cricket fan, was among the latest to join those taking a dig at the Pak team, sharing on his Twitter handle a meme that was going around online after the final.

‘Mughal era painting of a Pakistani fielder,’ says the meme which shows a 16th century noble with cupped hands, a cricket ball spilling out of them.

“Shared as received. Bless you, @WhatsApp humorists!,” wrote Tharoor in his post.

The context is this: In the final played last Sunday, allrounder Shadab Khan dropped two catches that may have cost Pakistan the Asia Cup 2022.

Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who was counterattacking after a Sri Lankan top order collapse, skied a Rajapaksa skied a lofted ondrive of Haris Rauf and Shadab at deep mid-on backpedalled and tipped the catch over his head, The score then was 142/6. Seven runs later, Shadab ran into Asif Ali who was completing a catch off Rajapaksa and tipped the ball over the ropes for six.

Rajapaksa made good use of those lapses in the final over and Sri Lanka finished with 170/6, a total which proved a bit out of reach of the Pak batters.

This particular meme was going around online after the day after the final, but after Tharoor shared it there was a fresh round of laughter.

People from both sides of the border, however also pointed out that the joke could similarly apply to India’s Arshdeep Singh who dropped Pakistan’s Asif Ali in the final stages of their Super 4 match. In that case too the lapse proved to be costly, and India was out of the tournament without reaching the final.