Ben Stokes hints India conspired to throw Pakistan out of World Cup 2019

England superstar Ben Stokes has implied that the Indian team had a sinister plan in place to throw Pakistan out of World Cup 2019 by making no effort to win a crucial match against England, which would have boosted their arch-rivals' chance to stay alive in the tournament.

The equation was such that a win for India over England would have helped Pakistan qualify for the semi-finals. But much to the dismay of Pakistan fans, Indian batsmen, especially MS Dhoni, appeared unusually lethargic in the run chase, eventually losing the match and dealing a fatal blow to Sarfaraz Ahmed and co's semi-final hopes.

While Dhoni and teammates' approach had raised a few eyebrows at the time, it had largely been forgotten until Stokes reopened the chapter in his book On Fire.

“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,” wrote Stokes.

“…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."

Stokes shed light on Dhoni's approach to batting in run chases, saying that to the Indian veteran it was more important to take the match to the wire than die trying well before that.

“There is a theory in our camp that Dhoni’s way of playing has always been the same. Even if India can’t win the game, he takes it right to the end to try to make sure that India’s run-rate stays relatively healthy,” Stokes stated.

“His big thing has always been to give himself a chance of winning by being at the crease for the final over, but he generally likes to stick around to get as close to a target as possible even in a losing cause."

Stokes said he was also puzzled by Indian star batsmen Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's "bizarre" batting.

"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,” he said. 

“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.”

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