I did not see the match-winning intent from India, I felt bad for the sport: Mohammad Hafeez on IND-ENG WC 2019 game

India’s 2019 World Cup league match against England has once again come under scrutiny after Mohammad Hafeez questioned their intent in that match. A few days ago, Ben Stokes had mentioned in his book that he felt that the Indian team didn’t show much intent during the run chase of 338 runs against England in that match.

After these words from Stokes got in the public eye, some ex-Pakistan cricketers like Abdul Razzaq started saying that India lost the match deliberately to ensure that Pakistan gets disqualified. It should be noted that if India had won that match, England wouldn’t have made it to the semi-finals. In a recent interaction, Hafeez also joined in and commented on this matter.

I did not see the match-winning intent, I felt bad for the sport: Mohammad Hafeez

According to Hafeez, there was no intent to play with the spirit. Though the cricketer also mentioned that Pakistan didn’t qualify for their own small errors during the tournament.

“Ask any cricket fan, everyone will say intent to play with the 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 said during a video conference organized by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

Hafeez further said that there wasn’t any intention of winning from India’s point of view. The Virat Kohli-led team had already qualified for the semi-final. The 31-run loss which they suffered against England didn’t hurt their chances. However, it surely impacted their neighbors, who failed to qualify even after beating England, South Africa, and New Zealand during the tournament.

“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.

England who just about made it to the semi-finals ended up winning the World Cup. Former West Indian cricketer Micheal Holding recently said that the claims of Ben Stokes regarding the match were just a way to sell his book.

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