Basit Ali asked to explain claim of India deliberately losing its World Cup fixtures to assure Pakistan’s 2019 World Cup exit

Gurpreet Singh | 26/07/2019
Basit Ali asked to explain claim of India deliberately losing its World Cup fixtures to assure Pakistan's 2019 World Cup exit

Basit Ali asked to explain claim of India deliberately losing its league matches to assure Pakistan’s exit from 2019 Cricket World Cup

Former Pakistan player Basit Ali had faced widespread criticism from scores of people for baseless comments on the Indian team during the league stages of the recently concluded 2019 Cricket World Cup in England.

The 48-year-old, who has played 50 ODIs and 19 Tests for Pakistan, had commented that  India would deliberately lose its last two league matches against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to make sure that Pakistan is prevented to seal a semi-final berth in the ongoing World Cup.

What was more remarkable was that he dismissed the fact that Cricket is a game of chances, and to prove his point gave the reference of the 1992 World Cup where, according to him, New Zealand had deliberately lost its final league match versus Pakistan, in order to play the semi-final match at their Home ground.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) seek an explanation from Basit for his comments

The Pakistan Cricket Board has put former batsman Basit Ali’s appointment for a coaching assignment on hold and sought an explanation from him for suggesting that India would intentionally lose matches to knock Pakistan out of the recent World Cup.

 

Post Edited By: Gurpreet Singh
Basit Ali India Pakistan

About the author

Gurpreet Singh

Gurpreet Singh is a Cricket writer at The Sportsrush. His platonic relationship with sports had always been there since childhood, but Cricket managed to strike a special, intimate nerve of his heart. Although his initial dream of playing the sport at the highest level couldn't come to fruition, Gurpreet did represent the state of Jharkhand at the under-14 level. However, almost like taking a pledge to never let the undying passion for Cricket fade away even a tad, he made sure to continue the love relationship by assigning the field of journalism as an indirect Cupid. He thus, first finished his bachelor's in journalism and then pursued the PG Diploma course in English journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC). Soon after and since 2019, he has been working at The Sportsrush. Apart from sports, he takes keen interest in politics, and in understanding women and gender-related issues.

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