ICC World Cup 2019: India May Deliberately Lose To Sri Lanka, Bangladesh To Keep Pakistan Out - Basit Ali

Former Pakistan batsman Basit Ali has claimed that India might deliberately lose against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh so that they can keep Pakistan out of contention for the last four. If India wins against England on 30th June at Edgbaston, Birmingham, its next two matches against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will be dead rubbers for Virat Kohli led side.

Read More: ICC World Cup 2019: Pakistan vs Afghanistan – Match Prediction

However, Pakistan will want India to defeat Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to keep their hopes alive in the tournament. Furthermore, Pakistan will want that England loses its remaining two matches.

Basit Ali comes up with interesting revelations.

Meanwhile, India is the only team in the World Cup which is still unbeaten and they would aim to remain undefeated throughout the tournament.

Basit Ali who played 19 Test matches and 50 One Day Internationals for Pakistan believes India will not want Pakistan to reach the semi-finals. In fact, India has already beaten Pakistan in this edition of the World Cup and have a miraculous record against Pakistan

“India will never want Pakistan to reach the semi-finals. They have matches remaining against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Everybody saw how India won against Afghanistan,” Basit said during a talk show in ‘ARY News’.

Basit Ali stated that India will play in such a manner that nobody will come to know about it. Ali recalled the close match which India won by 11 runs against Afghanistan. India had to sweat hard for their win against the Afghan side.

“They (India) will play in such a way that nobody will know what has happened. What happened against Afghanistan?”

“What did Australia do against India? What did David Warner do?” he said.

In fact, Basit Ali claimed that New Zealand had deliberately lost to Pakistan so that they can play the semifinals in their home ground in the 1992 World Cup. Pakistan had gone on to win that World Cup.

Read More: ICC World Cup 2019: Match 35, Sri Lanka vs South Africa – Toss Report

“What happened in 1992? New Zealand deliberately lost to Pakistan (in the league stage). If you ask Imran bhai (then captain Imran Khan), he will also say this. They (New Zealand) lost against Pakistan so that they can play at home in the semifinals.”

India will play their next match against England at Edgbaston, Birmingham. The Men in Blue needs one more win to qualify for the semifinals.