After meandering along in the initial stages of the competition, Pakistan have finally found their form and are now in contention to qualify for the semi-finals. A crushing win against New Zealand have propelled their chances, but they still depend on other results going in their favour. For starters, they would want India to beat England in Edgbaston on Sunday.
However, former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali has made a series of sensational claims in which he has said that the Indian team will deliberately lose their matches to undermine Pakistan's World cup campaign and to stop them from making it to semi-finals.
'India would not want Pakistan to qualify'
"India have played only five matches so far and they would never want Pakistan to qualify for the semi-final. India's remaining matches are against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and everyone saw the way they played against Afghanistan," Basit was quoted as saying by Pakistan-based ARY News.
The anchor kept pressing Ali to confess that India would lose their match intentionally in order to prevent Pakistan's qualification. "I personally feel Pakistan should only focus on their next match against New Zealand," Ali said.
"People don't say that they will lose intentionally but India will play in such a way that people won't be able to make any remarks. When playing Australia, David Warner didn't play at all," he further added.
Basit Ali also said that cricket is not a game of chance and then went on to confess that New Zealand purposely lost to Pakistan in the league stage back in 1992 so that they could play the semi-final in their own country.
Basit Ali reckons India will not want Pakistan to qualify for the semi-finals and may play poorly in their matches against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh ? #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/vwg3oFnnpl
— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) June 26, 2019
"Cricket is not a game of chance. In 1992, New Zealand purposely lost to Pakistan (in the league stage) and Imran Khan would agree with that. The Kiwis lost so they could play the semi-final in their own country," he further added.
Pakistan have managed to keep their campaign afloat with a win against South Africa and New Zealand. They were dominant against New Zealand and now need to win all their matches and then hope India England lose their remaining matches.
"Good to see the results today. Whenever Pakistan team is pushed to the corner, we do well. It's a great team effort," Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed said after the team's comprehensive victory over New Zealand.
