Published 15:09 IST, June 2nd 2020
Gayle, Russell felt India lost to England for knocking Pak out of 2019 WC: Mushtaq Ahmed
Ex-Pakistan spinner Mushtaq Ahmed reveals even the WI duo of Chris Gayle and Andre Russell, like most Pakistanis, feel that India tanked the game vs England.
England's World Cup hero Ben Stokes's autobiography On Fire: My Story of England's summer to remember has courted controversy for his comments on the Indian quartet of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav during their encounter in the World Cup group stage. Stokes slammed his fellow IPL stars for their lack of intent during the contest which left him baffled. Since his comments came out, many former Pakistani cricketers believe that India deliberately lost to England in the group stage encounter, in a bid to knock Pakistan out of the competition. Now former Pakistan spinner Mushtaq Ahmed reveals that Chris Gayle and Andre Russell too told him that India didn't seem to want Pakistan to qualify for the World Cup semi-final and hence tanked the match against England.
IPL stars Chris Gayle, Andre Russell believed India lost to England on purpose: Mushtaq Ahmed
Speaking to Pakistani news channel ARY Sports, former spinner Mushtaq Ahmed revealed Jason Holder, Chris Gayle and Andre Russell told him that India did not want Pakistan to qualify for the semi-final after their loss to England. Both England and Pakistan were in a precarious position before the fateful India vs England match, which England won comfortably by 31 runs to seal a spot in the final 4. Chasing a target of 338 runs, India ended up with 306 on the board, with both MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav remaining unbeaten. Mushtaq Ahmed, who was working with the West Indian squad during the 2019 World Cup, said that Gayle and Russell believed India did not want Pakistan to qualify and hence lost the game on purpose.
Former Pakistan bowler Sikander Bakht recently claimed on Twitter that Ben Stokes, in his book, has said that India lost intentionally to England to remove Pakistan from the World Cup, which was widely predicted in Pakistan. In response to Bakht’s tweet, a Twitter user asked where has Stokes made such comments, to which the all-rounder denied the claims and said that his words are being twisted for clickbait. Mushtaq Ahmed's comments come after another former Pakistan cricketer Abdul Razzaq claimed that MS Dhoni deliberately blocked deliveries when he has the ability to hit sixes at will. IPL stars Chris Gayle and Andre Russell are yet to respond to the claims and it would interesting to see what they have to say on the subject.
Updated 15:09 IST, June 2nd 2020