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Published 16:44 IST, May 29th 2020

Ben Stokes roasts ex-Pak player for misquoting his recent claims on MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli

Ben Stokes lashed out at former Pakistani cricketer Sikander Bakht for twisting words from the England all-rounder's autobiography on MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli.

Reported by: Jatin Malu
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The Indian cricket team had a good run during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. The Men in Blue ended the group stages as the table toppers. However, they had lost a solitary match during the group stages and that was against the hosts, England. Virat Kohli's men lost the match by 31 runs. India's loss was severely criticized by the cricketing community. In fact, after the game, several cricket pundits opined that India’s approach towards the chase wasn’t right and they didn’t try enough to chase the target.

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Ben Stokes lashes out at former Pakistan cricketer who tries to twist his words

Recently, there was a lot of buzz going on about England all-rounder Ben Stokes discussing India's approach in the game in On Fire: My Story of England’s Summer to Remember, which is the name of the latest Ben Stokes autobiography. The England all-rounder wrote that the approach of MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma during the run chase was surprising to him.

However, Ben Stokes' words from his autobiography were twisted and then tweeted by former Pakistan cricketer Sikander Bakht. The Pakistan international took to Twitter and wrote that Stokes had revealed that India lost the match deliberately to knock out Pakistan from the World Cup.

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Countering Bakht's misleading tweet, a Twitter user posted a question asking the 62-year old if he can show some evidence that Ben Stokes actually said that. Ben Stokes took note of the situation and decided to take matters into his own hands before things escalate further. Ben Stokes clarified saying that he had never said it and added that his words were twisted in order to garner attention. 

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Ben Stokes autobiography: Ben Stokes baffled with India's approach

In his book, Stokes wrote. "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.”

“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. They allowed their team to get so far behind the game. They showed no desire to put any pressure back onto our team, content instead to just drift along, a tactic that was clearly playing into our hands."

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IMAGE COURTESY: AP

16:44 IST, May 29th 2020