Never said India lost deliberately to England at the World Cup – Ben Stokes

 

England’s all-rounder Ben Stokes has clarified that he never said India lost deliberately to English team at the 2019 World Cup. Stokes had recently questioned the approach of India’s batting unit in their run-chase to England’s 337 in the 38th match of the World Cup. The talisman all-rounder wrote in his book, ‘On Fire’ that there was no intent from MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav to go for the target.

Dhoni faced 31 runs for scoring 42 runs whereas Kedar Jadhav scored 12 runs from 13 balls. Interestingly, both the right-handers didn’t attempt to go for the big shots and it was anticipated that India was playing safe to keep their net run rate on track.

Furthermore, Stokes found the approach of Indian captain Virat Kohli and his deputy Rohit Sharma as mystifying. Both Kohli and Rohit added 138 runs in 26 overs and the required rate kept on increasing during their alliance. India had lost the early wicket of KL Rahul and Kohli and Rohit decided to take their time.

Subsequently, former Pakistan fast bowler Sikander Bhakt claimed Stokes has written that India lost deliberately to England so that they can remove Pakistan from semi-final contention.

Pakistan and New Zealand both finished with 11 points in the league stages after winning five and losing one whereas one match had no result. However, the Kiwis qualified for the final four as they had a better net run rate.

Meanwhile, England had to win every match to qualify for the semi-final after losing to Sri Lanka and Australia in the league stages. Thus, had India won against England, it would have opened a semi-final door for Pakistan.

Sikander Bhakt took to his Twitter account and made the allegation that Stokes has written India lost their match England deliberately to kick out Pakistan. Subsequently, a Twitter user questioned where Ben Stokes has said so.

Stokes then commented that you won’t find it because he didn’t say so and it is called twisting of words or clickbait.