Mohammad Hafeez has become the latest Pakistani cricketer to raise doubts over India’s winning intent in last year’s World Cup game against England.
It was a game held at Edgbaston, where the Men in Blue were comprehensively beaten by 31 runs as they failed to chase England’s score of 337.
Last month, England all-rounder Ben Stokes said he found Virat Kohli (66 off 76 balls) and Rohit Sharma’s (102 off 109 balls) approach “mystifying” while he saw “no intent” from MS Dhoni (42* off 31 balls) during the chase.
Lately, many former Pakistan cricketers are using Stokes’ statement to prove their point that India lost the game deliberately to keep Pakistan away from qualifying for the knockout stages.
However, Hafeez believes Pakistan failed to qualify for the last-four stage due to their own mistakes.
"Ask any cricket fan, everyone will say intent to play with spirit was not there. I don't know about the results and who went out because of that. We played good cricket and we were out because of our small mistakes. So I can't blame any result for that," Hafeez told reporters during a video conference facilitated by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
"But as a fan if I see the match, I did not see the match winning intent. I felt bad for the sport. The encounter factor was missing where both teams were playing to win. The mistakes we made, we failed to tick a few boxes in the 2019 World Cup. But as a fan, that is my opinion about that game," he added.
Earlier, ex-Pakistani cricketers Waqar Younis, Abdul Razzaq and Mushtaq Ahmed had come forward and claimed that India lost the match on purpose to knock Pakistan out of the quadrennial event.
(With IANS inputs)
