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Pakistan was not eliminated on the basis of India-England match: Mohammad Hafeez
Mohammad Hafeez also said that Pakistan made a number of mistakes in the tournament as a result of which they were knocked out
Veteran Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez has waded into the debate surrounding India’s match against England at the ICC World Cup 2019. As per Hafeez, India did not show any intention of winning the match as they knew it would have repercussions on Pakistan’s chances of qualifying to the next round of the tournament.
Hafeez, however, was quick to add that it would not be fair to blame the fate of Pakistan solely on the result of the aforementioned match. “If you show that match to any cricket fan 100 times, the fan would take only one result from that game, the intent to play with the spirit was not there, I do not know how much that result affected anyone, Pakistan team was not eliminated from the tournament on the basis of India-England match,” he told reporters in a virtual press conference.
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The all-rounder also said that Pakistan made a number of mistakes in the tournament as a result of which they were knocked out.
“We played well in the 2019 World Cup but we were eliminated because of our mistakes only. I do not blame anyone else for our failure. We should not think that we bowed out of the tournament on the basis of one other result,” he went on to add.
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It needs to be mentioned here that the match between India and England came to the fore when England all-rounder Ben Stokes questioned India’s intent in his book titled ‘On Fire’.
Stokes, in his book, said that India’s approach in the match surprised him and this sparked off the debate about Men in Blue’s intent as the result of the match had a direct bearing on Pakistan’s fate in the tournament.
“I watched that entire match Ben Stokes talked about in his book, why did he write that only he can tell you about that, but according to me there was no intent for winning the match,” Hafeez said.
