ISLAMABAD – Former Pakistan Test cricketer Basit Ali has claimed that Indiawill deliberately lose their matches against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka toensure that Pakistan does not qualify for the semifinals of the ICC WorldCup 2019.
India sits in a comfortable position where they can secure the semifinalposition for themselves with a win against West Indies. Granted if Indiawins on Thursday, they are likely to rest players and play an inexperiencedteam to hurt Pakistan’s qualification chances.
India have played only five matches so far and they would never wantPakistan to qualify for the semi-final. India’s remaining matches areagainst Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and everyone saw the way they playedagainst Afghanistan.
Speaking about his controversial statement, Basit Ali added:
People don’t say that they will lose intentionally but India will play insuch a way that people won’t be able to make any remarks. When playingAustralia, David Warner didn’t play at all.
Adding weight to his words, Basit Ali also claimed that Pakistan’s winagainst New Zealand in 1992 was not luck but a plan from the Kiwis to playa match in their home country.
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Cricket is not a game of chance. In 1992, New Zealand purposely lost toPakistan (in the league stage) and Imran Khan would agree with that. TheKiwis lost so they could play the semi-final in their own country.
Pakistan’s chances of qualification hinder on England and India’sperformances. If India can secure a win against England then Pakistan’schances to qualify for semifinals are increased by a significant margin.
It remains to be seen how India approach their upcoming matches becausethere’s going to be a lot of controversy surrounding it.
