Abdul Razzaq questions India’s intent vs England; even lauds ‘musalman’ Mohammed Shami

It seems the Pakistanis are yet to overcome the shock they received to see England beat India by 31 runs in the Cricket World Cup 2019 contest in Birmingham on Sunday. England’s win not only brought them back into the race for the semi-final after two back-to-back losses but also put Pakistan’s chances of making the last four in jeopardy. If England win their remaining game against New Zealand on Wednesday, the Pakistan-Bangladesh match of July 5 will almost turn into a meaningless affair.

Pakistan fans and experts came up with strong reactions after Virat Kohli’s side slumped to their first defeat of this tournament. Especially, the partnership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav towards the end in which they fetched just 39 runs in 31 balls came under intense criticism. Chasing 338 to win after the England batting fired big time, India ended up at 306 for five. Among the former Pakistan cricketers who questioned India’s approach while chasing is former all-rounder Abdul Razzaq.

Shami took five wickets for went for runs

Speaking as a panellist on Geo TV after the match, the 39-year-old Razzaq questioned the Indian players’ intent. He even spoke about the Indian bowlers’ show saying No.1 bowler Jasprit Bumrah and wicket-taking bowler Yuzvendra Chahal failed to restrict the England batsmen while Mohammed Shami took a fifer. Although Shami took his first five-for in ODIs, he went for 69 runs while Bumrah had a much tidier spell (one for 44 in 10 overs).

The spinning duo of Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav had gone for a whopping 160 runs in their 20 overs for just one wicket. The England openers were particularly ruthless against the slow bowlers. However, Razzaq didn’t stop here. He even pulled in the religion factor by hailing Shami’s ‘musalman’ identity and accusing others of not giving their best. Even editor of PakPassion Saj Sadiq expressed surprise to hear Razzaq’s words.

Here is Abdul Razzaq’s video:

Don’t understand why religion has to be mentioned when looking at the performance of the Indian bowling attack #CWC19 ???? pic.twitter.com/A3INMEEBP7

— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) July 1, 2019

Shami has played only three games in the tournament so far but has picked 13 in them with two back-to-back four wickets against Afghanistan and the West Indies before the fifer against the Three Lions.

Razzaq, it may be mentioned here, had expressed his desire to train India all-rounder Hardik Pandya into the world’s best all-rounder in a couple of weeks after coming up with some observations on technical aspects of his bowling after the India-West Indies game.