London: All-rounder Ben Stokes clarified that he never said India lost to England deliberately during the 2019 World Cup.
Strokesā comments come after former Pakistan cricketer Sikander Bakht on Thursday claimed the all-rounder in his book has mentioned that India deliberately lost to England in World Cup last year to knock Pakistan out of the tournament. He also shared an old video of him pointing out the same on Twitter.
Taking to Twitter Stokes clarified Bakht and wrote, You wonāt find it cause I have never said it… itās called twisting of words or clickbait.
In the round-robin stage match against England in Birmingham, India failed to chase down the massive target of 338 and fell short of 31 runs. That was the only game that India lost in the premier tournament last year before the semifinal loss against Kiwis. Indiaās chasing approach towards a massive target was criticised by many, in particular of wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni, including the fans at home.
England became the eventual champion by beating New Zealand in a dramatic final at Lordās to lift its maiden World Cup title since the inception of the competition.
In his soon to be published book titled āOn Fireā, Stokes analysed each of Englandās games in the World Cup.