England’s all-rounder Ben Stokes recently analyzed the performance of MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma during the England vs India match in World Cup 2019.
Ben Stokes published a book ‘On Fire‘ in which he discussed all the matches played by the England team in World Cup 2019. Last year, for the first time England won the ICC Cricket World Cup. Talking about the game at Birmingham against India, Stokes said that he was quite surprised by the way Indian batsmen approached the game especially MS Dhoni. India lost that match to England by 31 runs. Stokes, in his book, revealed that the former Indian captain MS Dhoni showed no intention of winning the game. He believes that the Indian side could have easily won the game if MS had hit some boundaries.
Ben said, “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”. He added, “…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,”
In a mammoth run-chase of 338, the men in blue got restricted to 306 for the loss of only five wickets. England’s new-ball bowlers Chris Woakes and Jofra Archer kept it tight from the get-go to keep India in check. The partnership of 138 runs between Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli consumed 38 overs after Woakes claimed the wicket of KL Rahul early on. The departure of Rohit, Virat, and Hardik Pandya significantly slowed down India’s progress.
To add to the earlier criticism of Kohli’s “59-metre boundary” statement, the 28-year old couldn’t believe their captain’s and vice-captain’s tactics. Ben Stokes appreciated the efforts of their bowlers; however, it didn’t seem as if India had any desire to put pressure on the hosts. According to the all-rounder, their strategy was more in favour of England than of India. Was it a Fixed Encounter?
“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.” Stokes added, who played a key role in England’s successful World Cup campaign.
After these revelations of Ben Stokes, the same question has arisen again whether Indian deliberately lost the match to get Pakistan out. If Indian team had won this match, Pakistan could have reached the top four. Will there be investigations, only time will tell.
Read Also: Militarising Cricket
