Every sports fan knows the truth: Sometimes, no amount of yelling or ranting can save a team that's truly cooked.

The quiet disappointment in knowing that your squad is flailing says more than any amount of heckling ever could. Perhaps no meme expresses this reality better than the "Disappointed Cricket Fan" photo.

The cricket fan's perfectly deadpan reaction to seeing a Pakistani fielder drop an easy catch went hugely viral back in 2019, and quickly became cricket's ultimate expression of resigned defeat.

But what is he up to today, now that the meme has spread far beyond the pitch? Let's catch up with the world's most disappointed sports fan, Muhammad Sarim Akhtar.

What Is The 'Disappointed Cricket Fan' Meme?

On June 12th, 2019, during a Cricket World Cup match at County Ground in Taunton, Somerset, Pakistan's Asif Ali dropped a sitter off Wahab Riaz’s bowling. In addition to the bungle costing Pakistan their momentum in the match, the moment also handed the internet a new reaction image.

The broadcast quickly cut to the stands, landing on one unimpressed spectator standing stiffly with his hands on his hips, lips pressed into a tight grimace. That man was Muhammad Sarim Akhtar, the "Disappointed Cricket Fan," who quickly became internet shorthand for quiet exasperation.

The clip made the rounds within minutes after it was aired globally. Facebook users passed it around, and the ICC's official Twitter account threw it into the global feed as a looping GIF the day the segment aired.

(•_•)/ \#WeHaveWeWill#CWC19 pic.twitter.com/gkDwE2MMji

— ICC (@ICC) June 12, 2019

How Did The 'Disappointed Cricket Fan' Meme Spread?

The timing couldn't have been better (or worse, depending on your allegiance). The meme debuted mid-tournament, just as Pakistan's 2019 World Cup campaign had begun to wobble.

After a narrow exit from the tournament in July 2019 despite beating Bangladesh, Pakistani cricket fans found the perfect vessel for their frustration in Sarim Akhtar’s unimpressed stance.

Plus, Sarim Akhtar even got a chance to meet his cricketing idol, the "Sultan of Swing" Wasim Akram, as a result of the meme, a few days after he went viral.

On June 20th, 2019, Akram posed alongside a star-struck Sarim Akhtar for a quick Coca-Cola promotion reel, which is probably the best case scenario for any sports fan caught scowling on tape.

The image broke out of the cricket bubble almost immediately and spread like wildfire on sites like Facebook and Twitter in mid-2019, picking up captions and getting the Photoshop treatment as the meme found a second life far beyond match-day banter.

South Asian meme pages were the first to grab hold of the meme, and soon enough, Sarim's expression came to be known as the face of disappointment and betrayal.

How Did Sarim Akhtar React To Becoming A Meme?

In an interview with Know Your Meme from 2021, Sarim Akhtar said that he initially wasn't even planning to go to the match. The idea of a three-hour drive to Taunton had him dragging his feet, but his friend had dangled the ultimate bait — excellent seats.

Sarim caved. Those seats, as it turns out, had an unobstructed view of Asif Ali dropping a catch, and led to Sarim silently broadcasting every shade of disbelief to the world.

During the innings break, sports presenter Zainab Abbas found him in the stands and sat him down for an impromptu post-meme interview. Akhtar looked stunned but composed.

"It was just a straightforward catch," he explained. "I could see it land on his hand, and then he dropped it, so it was really disappointing to see it happen right in front of me."

Akhtar also explained why he didn't heckle the player, even though Asif was just meters away, "I couldn't say anything because he had just come off a family tragedy, so I didn’t shout at him."

Back home, the reaction was immediate. Sarim Akhtar said that within 15 minutes of the clip airing, his phone lit up with messages from friends who had seen his now-iconic pose on the international broadcast.

He called the whole thing "humbling and scary at the same time," and described his fame as "a tremendous out-of-body experience."

Akhtar doesn't mind being recognized on the streets, especially in Pakistan, where disappointment is practically a national pastime during cricket season. He says that when it's time for anonymity, he just slaps a cap on his recognizable head.

What Has Sarim Akhtar Been Up To In The Years Since His Viral Fame?

Sarim Akhtar never really tried to leverage his meme fame to become an internet celebrity, beyond the few cricket perks he was no doubt offered at the height of the meme.

A risk and fraud auditor by profession, Akhtar has continued to focus on his job as a manager in a London-based accounting firm for the past seven years, and he doesn't seem to have any plans to pivot his steady job into an online career.

That's not to say that Akhtar doesn't occasionally revel in his minute slice of internet fame. In July 2021, he realized that a painting of his meme had been incorporated into the Hong Kong K11 Museum of Memes, and his excited post about the honor gathered over 400,000 interactions from people congratulating him on Twitter.

He has a Twitter and Instagram account dedicated to cricket and the mentions of the Disappointed Cricket Fan meme, and he doesn't ever hide his enthusiasm when the meme makes a comeback on the internet every cricket season.

Back in October 2021, Akhtar went viral again for posting a photo beaming with happiness after Pakistan won their first-ever T-20 match against India during the 2021 Cricket World Cup, and even his Indian followers begrudgingly handed him the chance to gloat over the rare victory.

But that isn't to say that Akhtar doesn't tell it like it is when it comes to his favorite cricket team.

In a June 2024 interview, a charismatic Sarim Akhtar gave a glowing account of India's cricket team, calling it a tournament "favorite" and laying out his trepidations about the uphill battle the Pakistani cricket team faces when it comes to tightening their bowling capabilities and ushering in their new coach.

Akhtar also keeps up with changes in the meme world, at one point sharing an AI-generated video in which an AI Studio Ghibli version of his meme scowled at Raygun, the Australian Olympic breakdancer.

Ha this one is hilarious @0xFramer https://t.co/cWdZqCr5Ve

— Sarim Akhtar (@msarimakhtar) April 10, 2025

If you'd like to keep up with him yourself, Muhammad Sarim Akhtar continues to post on both his Instagram (@msarimakhtar) and his Twitter / X account (@msarimakhtar) to this date.

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For the full history of the Disappointed Cricket Fan, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information. To see the rest of our "Where Are They Now" series, you can find them all here. Stay tuned for next week's editorial!

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