Sir: I would like to appreciate and thank our team for their efforts and getting to the world cup semi-finals. I must say it was very surprising for Afridi to apologise to the nation. However, I feel there was no need for him to do so, as it is a game in which one team must always lose. It was never a war. If our nation really wants to win, they must invest their energies into making their country rise intellectually just as India has managed to do. This Cricket World Cup has once again proved that our nation has a lot of hope, unity and a surge of electrifying energy. I would like to make an appeal to our intellectual circles to please step up and enlighten the perimeters around them. It is us who have to teach our youth where to direct their capabilities; it is us who must break free from our shells and know how important it is to share what we have with none other than our ‘own’. Cricket is a game comprising just 11 players and it is unfair to put such a huge burden on them when it is our duty as a whole to make the nation succeed. Rise Pakistan and start thinking rationally. Well done our team! TEHMINA SHAIKH Lahore