Abdul Razzaq says India deliberately lost to England in the 2019 World Cup and ‘there is no doubt’ about it
Former Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq has claimed that India intentionally lost to England in the 2019 World Cup so that Pakistan could not progress in the tournament any further. Abdul Razzaq’s comments have come in the wake of England all-rounder Ben Stokes rejecting claims that he had written in his book, which is yet to be published, that India deliberately lost the 2019 World Cup match against England.
“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,” Abdul Razzaq was quoted as saying by PakPassion.net.
Abdul Razzaq wants ICC to fine teams that lose deliberately
Abdul Razzaq further demanded that ICC should incorporate deliberate losing into its rules and impose a fine on the team. He reiterated that there is no doubt that India losit the game deliberately. “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”.
India needed 71 runs from the last five overs with MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav out in the middle. Both the veterans kept taking singles instead of going for the big shots when the asking rate kept increasing. Dhoni remained not out on 42 off 31 balls as India finished their chase of 338 runs at 306/5 in 50 overs.
Abdul Razzaq played 265 ODIs for Pakistan between 1996 and 2011.