"It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance."
Simply put, that is the story behind the recent Twitter banter between the International Cricket Council and some Pakistan cricket fans. The international cricket body's sense of humour and wit floored the under-informed Pakistan cricket lovers who jumped the gun on the micro-blogging platform on Sunday.
ICC's official handle put out a poll, asking followers and fans to predict the two teams likely to face off in the finals of the Women's World T20 which is currently underway in West Indies. The host country was named along with India, England and Australia while the Pakistani team was not listed.
Some fans, taking offence in the omission of their team from the list, criticised the body for "underestimating" the Asian side. They sought an explanation for their nation's exclusion and one fan even went to the extent of reminding ICC of the team's T20 ranking.
But the emotionally charged fans were missing an elementary fact. The Pakistani women had already been eliminated from the tournament following their group stage defeats to Australia, India and New Zealand. The list of four teams was not some random selection, but the actual semi-final line-up of the tournament.
All hell broke loose and ICC finally broke silence and wrote-back: "The absolute state of these mentions! Pakistan didn’t get out of the #WT20 group stage guys."
Moral of the story: Get your facts right before entering a debate.