World Cup 2019: Former Pakistan batsman Basit Ali slams India’s tactics following their loss

It was going to be a perfect weekend for the cricket fans with two heavyweights, England and India battling it out in an important fixture World Cup at Edgbaston, Birmingham. Before the game, Team India was marching on without dropping a single tie. On the other side, the hosts were eager to put their campaign back on track after losing convincingly against arch-rivals Australia. Their loss has also attracted a lot of criticism even from Pakistan as former cricketer Basit Ali undeservingly bashed the team.

In a do-die encounter England skipper, Eoin Morgan opted to bat after winning the toss. It was all sunny for the Brits as their star player Jason Roy returned to the fold and their opening pair provided the perfect start. Johnny Bairstow crunched a beautiful hundred and the all-rounder Ben Stokes played a crucial knock of 79 in just 54 balls which allowed them to post a good total of 337 on the board.

In reply Men in Blue struggled to utilize the powerplay restrictions as they lost KL Rahul in the third over of the innings. The batting duo of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma steadied the ship and slowly they started to dictate their terms. It was supposed to be an interesting chase with India’s explosive middle-order bolstered by the addition of Rishabh Pant but what followed in the final phase of the game really baffled the cricketing fraternity.

Basit critical of Team India

In the end, the Indian team fell short by 31 runs and the batting unit received a lot of flak for their casual approach in the initial and final phase of the innings. Following the loss, various former Indian players and cricket pundits questioned India’s tactics. Along with the former Pakistan batsman, Basit Ali also criticized Virat’s men as the result has tightened the grip on the qualification scenario of Asian teams and particularly for Pakistan.

Before the game, Basit had predicted that India might lose the game consciously to ouster their neighbours, Pakistan. He crucified the Indian team for their lack of intent in the first ten overs as they were able to score just 28 runs. He also added that Rohit and Virat played for their personal milestones and only Hardik Pandya played with required vigour. In the end, he termed that the Indian team had a picnic on the field.

“If you are chasing 337 runs and in the first 10 overs you only make 28 runs in which two fielders are in the outer circle, then according to me India played those 10 overs really bad,” Basit Ali said talking on a Pakistani news channel.

Also read – ICC World Cup 2019: Semi-final qualification scenarios for India, Pakistan, New Zeland, Bangladesh and England

“They had a picnic on the field. The batsmen were just making sure they were in good form. Rohit Sharma scored a century at his own time, Virat Kohli score his 66 so leisurely. It was just (Hardik) Pandya who was hitting and scored 45 off 33 balls,” he added.

The Men in Green wanted India to topple Morgan’s side as they now have had to face Bangladesh in a virtual knock-out game. Even after that their qualification hopes will depend on England’s fortunes against New Zealand. In the case of India, the team is definitely jolted by the loss but they have two games to stamp their position in the points table. They will play Bangladesh on the 2nd of July and Sri Lanka on the 6th of July.