Mohammad Hafeez claims India lost 2019 World Cup semi-final deliberately to oust Pakistan

There were so many factors that added up to the India’s loss to New Zealand in the semi final of the world cup but the first and foremost thing that lead to the dismantling of Indian team was their loss to England in the league stage which made the Indian captain Virat Kohli to change the winning combination that they had been playing for more than 2 years.

On a flipside, India had the chance to knock out the eventual world champions in England that game which would have opened doors for Pakistan as well but the destiny had different plans altogether. The Pakistan veteran in Mohammad Hafeez is the latest one to take a dig at the Indians for their loss to England.

I cannot blame any result for our exit- Mohammad Hafeez

The discarded Pakistan opener and former captain in Mohammad Hafeez was part of the Pakistan’s heartbreaking world cup campaign in which they were eliminated by to the barest of margins. Right from the word go, things didn’t go in their way. Their loss to West Indies affected their NRR big time. The game against Australia was another match which they should have won and rain gods showed no mercy in their game against Sri Lanka that was washed out with a point being shared by both the teams.

After enduring all these results, the Pakistanis still had the chance to play the semi finals if India had beaten the English side in the league game but that wasn’t to be the case. Here’s what Hafeez had to say about India’s intent

Ask any cricket fan, everyone will say intent to play with 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

I felt bad for the sport!

The all rounder further added that he felt bad for the sport after seeing India’s approach in that game. He also accepted the fact that Pakistan failed to tick few boxes in the world cup.

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.