The controversy regarding the English all-rounder, Ben Stokes’ statement of England’s win over India in the World Cup 2019 in the league stages seems to be never-ending. The latest cricketer who has thrown his hat is former Indian batsman Aakash Chopra. Everything started with Stokes writing about the match in his book, On Fire.
Recalling the win which England got over India, Stokes went on to express that the intent of the Indian batsmen in that game was surprising for him. Chasing a total of 338, Virat Kohli and his men lost the game by 31 runs. The win allowed England to have a chance to qualify for the next round. As it turned out, the hosts wouldn’t have made it to the knockouts had they lost the match.
After this statement came to life from Stokes, a few ex-cricketers from Pakistan started alleging the Indian team for losing the match deliberately to ensure Pakistan’s disqualification. The most prominent statement came from ex-Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq.
ALSO READ: MS Dhoni And His Daughter Ziva Found Cuddling To Their Pets
Razzaq had said, “There is no doubt that India lost on purpose. I had told this at that time as well. In fact, everyone else opined the same. For a person [Dhoni] who can hit fours and sixes at will, he was blocking everything…Hence, one tends to know.”
After this statement from Razzaq, a lot of fans came quite ard on the all-rounder still the argument continued in the Pakistan cricketing fraternity. In all trueness, Pakistan would have reached the semi-finals had the result of this match been changed. But, the entire situation made cricketer turned commentator Aakash Chopra speak on it.
In his latest YouTube video, Chopra hugely criticized Pakistan cricketing community for making such statements. He spoke about former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis, who also echoed the sentiments of many ex-cricketers from Pakistan.
Chopra elaborated, “I am wearing a T-shirt which says Sharam (shame) not found. Waqar Younis, despite being the brand ambassador for the ICC, gave a statement during the World Cup that India threw the match away on purpose. It is understandable if the partnership between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma didn’t make sense to Stokes or if he was confused by Dhoni’s approach towards the end. But he never said that India deliberately lost the match.”
ALSO READ: Aaron Finch slams Michael Clarke After Kohli and IPL remarks
Going further, Aakash Chopra also called for fines by the ICC on Pakistan cricketers. He concluded that India lost one match in the league stages and it just happened to be against the host nation.
Former Indian opener added, “Former Pakistani cricketers are openly saying that India lost deliberately and ICC should fine them. How can you think like that? It was more important for India to top the group at that time. India only lost one game in the group stages and that happened to be that game against England.”
Here is the video of the same:
