That’s Muhammad Sarim Akhtar, the ‘angry Pakistani fan’, who has had crazy 12 months. Sitting near the boundary line during Pakistan’s World Cup match against Australia, Sarim saw his team dropping easy catches and his silent, ‘desi-dad-disappointment-look’ was something the entire world could relate to. 

His picture started getting circulated, literally from the minute it was captured by the cameras and more than year after that look went viral, we thought of knowing the man behind the meme. So, we got in touch with him. 

To begin with, Sarim describes himself as a ‘regular 9-5 office going and shy person by nature’. He is an auditor by profession and lives in London with his wife and kids. 

Before this, he used to work in Kuwait and went there after completing his education in Karachi, his hometown. 

Now, how did this ‘regular’ person become such a big sensation? It was by chance. In a conversation with ScoopWhoop, Sarim narrated everything that took place before he found himself in the stadium for that match, and here it goes:

On June 12, 2019, there was an important World Cup game. Well, you could argue that every match in the World Cup is important, but Muhammad Sarim Akhtar’s home country was playing that day.

However, to attend or not to attend, that was the question. 

Mostly, Sarim did not want to. He had just shifted to a new house and bought a new car. So he thought he’d give it a miss. Maybe follow it on social media, watch the highlights – stuff like that. 

But when one of his friends, who was traveling from Dubai persuaded him, Sarim agreed. 3-hour-long drive seemed a bit of a hassle, but he went ahead with the plan. 

Thank God he did, because that was the day his life effectively changed. He became an overnight star, something which Sarim says he had never expected.

And as you can imagine, the sudden fame was not just shocking for him, his family also did not know how to process it, or react to it. 

So, one wonders how things are looking now?! Of course the fame has finally sunk in, but Sarim says there are still days when he gets surprised by the love he gets from the fans. Fans who really can’t get over him – something proven by the fact that as soon as the sport resumed after the COVID-enforced break, his meme got back in the game with full power.

This made us think if he was offered any projects. Because you know, it would only make sense to rope in one of the most popular faces on social media. To no one’s surprise, he did in fact got an offer to do a Coca-Cola ad, an experience he enjoyed a lot. 

Now, you can’t talk to a Pakistani cricket fan without mentioning the Pakistan cricket team. When asked about the current squad and his favourite player, if any, this is what Sarim said.

And this was his opinion on the team winning a major tournament in near future.

Coming back to the meme – his photo, of course, is our favourite. But what’s his? Always the one to laugh at himself, he said he finds the one below, very creative.

Finally, he revealed his 3 favourite Indian cricket players and the reason behind his choices (there is also a request for the Indian PM, which we sincerely hope he notices).

If you wish to follow him on social media, here are his Facebook, Twitter and Instagram handles.