Many raised eyebrows when the English team were able to defeat the unbeaten-till-now Indian team in a crucial fixture in the 2019 Cricket World Cup which sealed the fate of green team as Pakistan was dependent on its arch-rival to beat the British for it to proceed to the semifinals on the basis of net run rate.
In the game, India needed 71 runs from the final five overs to maintain their unbeaten run in the tournament with hard-hitter Dhoni and all-rounder Kedar Jadhav in the middle.
The duo, however, looked content knocking the ball around rather than going for big hits and managed only 39 in the last five overs. Dhoni remained not out on 42 off 31 balls, having hit the only six in the Indian innings, compared to England’s 13.
Cricket observers both home and abroad speculated that blue shirts deliberately lost to England to block the entry of Pakistan in the semi-finals.
Spin legend Mushtaq Ahmed has made another claim regarding that match. He said that the West Indies team players told him that India didn’t wish to see Pakistan in the semi-finals
Mushtaq told ARY Sports: “I was working with the West Indies squad at last year’s World Cup. After India’s loss to England, Jason Holder, Chris Gayle, and Andre Russell said to me. ‘Mushy, India didn’t want to see Pakistan qualify for the semi-finals’.”
However this is not the first time, someone from Pakistan accuses India of losing India vs England match deliberately. A few days back, former Pakistan bowler, Sikander Bakht alleged that India deliberately lost to England to eliminate Pakistan.
Quoting the content from Ben Stokes’s soon-to-be-published book, “On Fire: My Story of England’s Summer to Remember”, Bakht made such claims against the Indian cricket team. He tweeted: “Ben Stokes writes in his book that India lost to England deliberately to remove Pakistan from world Cup 19 and we predicted it.”
