Virat Kohli had defended Dhoni’s “calculated” approach, saying the wicketkeeper-batsman was experienced enough to know the demand of the occasion. (Source: Reuters)
Former Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq has once again made headlines after he claimed India intentionally lost to England to affect Pakistan’s progress in the 2019 World Cup. His comments come on the backdrop of Ben Stokes quashing all the claims which said that he had written in his to-be-published book that India lost the 2019 World Cup match against England deliberately.
“We as TV presenters on that day all felt the same; I had requested to the ICC that yes you are keeping all sorts of sanctions for match/spot-fixing but in cases where a team deliberately loses a game to try and disqualify another like making sure Pakistan did not get to semi-finals, there should be a fine and penalty for this also”.
“Those who have played cricket before can see through this; If a quality bowler is not bowling on the right line and length and not trying to take wickets, is giving away runs then he can be picked up easily; You can tell if he is doing that deliberately,” he was quoted as saying on a television show by PakPassion.net.
“This should be part of the ICC rules and regulations – in the same way they have Level 1,2..5 breaches etc then they should also include that in one of the levels, so that if a team deliberately loses, doesn’t play to its caliber then there will be a fine on them”
When asked if there is any doubt that India lost this game deliberately, Razzaq said, “There is no doubt about this – we said this before and all cricketers are saying that – as I said, you can see this clearly; A player can hit a six but he is hitting a four or blocking the ball then that is easy to see”.
MS Dhoni remained not out on 42 off 31 balls.
In the World Cup game, India needed 71 runs from the final five overs to maintain their unbeaten run in the tournament with former captain Dhoni and 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.
India captain Virat Kohli then defended Dhoni’s “calculated” approach, saying the wicketkeeper-batsman was experienced enough to know the demand of the occasion.
Kohli defended Dhoni again on Sunday after the team’s 31-run loss to the hosts.
“I think MS was trying really hard to get the boundary,” Kohli, whose fifth half-century in a row went in vain, said at the presentation ceremony.
“They were just bowling good areas. We’ll have to sit down and assess and improve in the next game.”