‘India deliberately lost to England to kill Pakistan’s hopes in 2019 World Cup’

Former Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq has made a shocking claim by accusing the Indian cricket team of deliberately losing to England, during the 2019 World Cup, inorder to kill the Men in Green’s hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals of the mega event.

It must be noted that the furor started when England’s star all-rounder Ben Stokes published a book titled ‘On Fire’, where he questioned the tactics of the Indian team in match against England.

According to Stokes, the way opener Rohit Sharma and captain Virat Kohli played was mystifying while also saying that wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni showed no intent of winning the game.

It must be noted that if India had defeated England, it would have increased Pakistan’s chances of going into the event’s knockout stage.

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Although, Stokes did not say that India deliberately lost to England but that did not stop Razzaq from making this claim.

“There is no doubt in this. I had told this at that time as well. In fact, everyone else opined the same. For a person who can hit fours and sixes at will, he was blocking everything...Hence, one tends to know,” Razzaq was quoted as saying by timesnownews.com.

Sharma hit 102 but India fell short of their 338-run target in 31-run loss at Edgbaston.

Kohli's side looked capable of making a record World Cup run chase at 198 for two from 36 overs, only to lose the plot in the last 10 overs.