"Koi Shaq Nahi": Abdul Razzaq Claims India Lost To England To Effect Pakistan's 2019 World Cup Progress

After 2019 World Cup hero Ben Stokes his book ‘on fire’ claimed MS Dhoni had ‘no intent’ of winning the match against England and the partnership between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma was mystifying, former Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq added fire to the flame. Razzaq believes India intentionally lost to England to effect Pakistan’s progress in the 2019 World Cup.

“Arguably, the way MS Dhoni played when he came in with 112 runs needed from 11 overs was even stranger. He appeared more intent on singles than sixes. Even with a dozen balls remaining, India could still have won. …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,” Ben Stokes wrote in his book.

“The way Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli played was mystifying. I know that we bowled brilliantly well during this period, but the way they went about their batting just seemed bizarre,” he added.

Pakistan with a match in hand against Bangladesh had an outside chance of making it the knock-out stage, had India beat England, and then the hosts lost to New Zealand. But none of the result favoured Pakistan as they were knocked-out of the quadrennial in the preliminary round.

Abdul Razzaq: Ismein shaq ki baat hi koi nahi. Humne uss waqt hi bola tha

Abdul Razzaq said India conspired against Pakistan in 2019 World Cup even though they had the ability to win the match against England. He also indicated that, MS Dhoni from the Indian team could have dealt in boundaries in sixes, but he was playing defensively which proves his point.

“Ismein shaq ki baat hi koi nahi. Humne uss waqt hi bola tha. Saare log keh rahe hain, jitne cricketers hain sab keh rahe. Ek aadmi chakka maar sakta hai, chauka maar sakta hai lekin phir bhi woh rokh raha hai…Toh pata toh chal jaata hai na. (There is no doubt in this. I had told this at that time as well. In fact, everyone else opined the same. For a person who can hit fours and sixes at will, he was blocking everything…Hence, one tends to know),” Razzaq told ARY sports.

It is a known fact that MS Dhoni was in the thick of things for his poor strike rate in the 2019 World Cup. He, however, remained unbeaten on 42 runs off 31 balls hitting four boundaries and one six in the match as he registered a strike rate of 135.48. Incidentally, his strike rate was the second best for an Indian in the match, only fractionally short of all-rounder Hardik Pandya. India had lost the match by 31 runs by chasing a stiff target of 338 runs in Birmingham.