England all-rounder Ben Stokes stirred controversy when he questioned MS Dhoni’s intent during India’s World Cup game against England. However, a former Pakistan bowler Sikander Bhatt claimed that India deliberately lost the game. But Stokes has rubbished those claims.
It was the game at Birmingham where England defeated India comprehensively by 31 runs. The Men In Blues failed to chase England’s massive score of 337 for 7 during the mega event. MS Dhoni remained unbeaten on 42 off 31 balls but most of the runs came in the last over when the contest was over.
Never said India lost deliberately: Ben Stokes
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 mystifying. The devastating Indian top-order could only manage 138 runs from 27 overs against the likes of Chris Woakes and Jofra Archer.
“…there was little or no intent from him (Dhoni) or his partner Kedar Jadhav. To me, while victory is still possible you always go for broke,” Stokes wrote in his soon-to-be-published book.
Meanwhile, former Pakistan bowler Sikander Bakht, on Twitter, claimed that Stokes has written in his book that India lost intentionally to host England to remove Pakistan from the ICC World Cup 2019. Bhatt made those claims while speaking on a panel for a television channel in his country.
Where has @benstokes38 said that India lost to England deliberately? Can anyone show me? https://t.co/YbcIUCgqSA
— Sohaib Khan (@SohaibAKhan23) May 28, 2020
Soon after the comments went viral on social media, the stylish all-rounder received a lot of flak on social media. However, England’s new-found hero Ben Stokes has denied the claims on social media and called the suggestions as ‘clickbait’. Replying to Sikander Bhakt’s tweet, the Englishmen quashed all such reports.
“You won’t find it cause I have never said it… it’s called “twisting of words” or “click bait”,” Stokes wrote in reply.
https://twitter.com/benstokes38/status/1266014955851005953?s=20
