England all-rounder Ben Stokes ‘lack of intent’ from India during their World Cup game against England comment had created a lot of stir among the cricket fraternity. Recently, West Indies legend Michael Holding quashed all those remarks which triggered former Pakistan cricketer Mushtaq Ahmed who stressed that India intentionally lost the game.
Ben Stokes, in his new book ‘On Fire’, wrote that there was no intent from MS Dhoni during that game. Furthermore, Ben Stokes also called out Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s tactic in the opening overs during the chase mystifying.
A couple of days has passed by since the Stokes made the remark but it continues to garner attention especially among Pakistan cricketers. After Sikander Bhatt claimed that India deliberately lost to throw Pakistan out of the competition, Mushtaq Ahmed has now launched a barrage of attacks.
India deliberately lost the England match: Mushtaq Ahmed
“Normally agar 10 run chahiye hote hain har over mein aur aapke paas wicket ho, toh aapne chance lena hota hai. Agar aap jab opposition ke khilaaf khel rahe hote ho aur match end tak le jate ho, toh aapko opposition ke weak bowlers ko pakadna padhta hai. Hume yeh ehsaas hogaya tha ki yeh kya kar rahe hain yeh…(When a team needs in excess of 10 per over in a chase, and have wickets in hand, then they tend to take more risks. The chasing team targets the weak links among the opposition bowlers. However, we had realised what they were doing…),” Mushtaq said.
The former spinner, who has worked with many teams as blowing coach, also made startling claims against India. Mushtaq Ahmed admitted that several West Indies cricketers have told him India didn’t want Pakistan to progress, as a result, they lost the match.
Mushtaq added, “Mujhe toh West Indies ke players ne, jaise ki unke skipper Jason Holder, Andre Russell, Chris Gayle, sab bol rahe the ki ‘They don’t want to see Pakistan. They don’t want to see Pakistan’ (Even Windies players like skipper Jason Holder, Andre Russell, Chris Gayle came up to me and said, ‘They don’t want to see Pakistan’…in the semi-finals).”