World Cup 2019: Kevin Pietersen calls India’s loss to England ‘weird’

At a time when India needed MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav to go all out against England, the two left everyone mighty surprised with their approach. Eventually, India lost the game to England by 31 runs and suffered their first loss of the World Cup. England, on the other hand, bounced back from two successive defeats to keep their semifinal hopes on track. England has their destiny in their own hands and can progress ahead with a win over New Zealand in their final league game.

As far as India are concerned, they need just a solitary point from their last two league games. But for the time being, the result of the game has taken the back seat. The entire cricketing fraternity is busy discussing India’s baffling approach with the bat. With England posting a massive total of 337 for 6, India needed a solid start with the bat. However, with KL Rahul departing for a nine-ball duck, India had to shelve their plans and they managed just 28 from the first 10 overs. But Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli soon found their rhythm and put India in contention.

The two added 146 runs for the second wicket to revive the chase. Kohli departed after scoring 66 while Rohit scored 102. The equation was finally down to 71 from 5 overs with MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav in the middle. Going hammers and tongs was the need of the hour. However, neither of the two went for the big shots and looked content in taking the singles. In the end, they managed just 39 runs from the final five overs as India finished on 306 for 5.

Gary Lineker and Kevin Pietersen surprised

The fans and former players have been coming up with a different explanation to justify India’s loss to England. Many think that India lost to England intentionally to hinder Pakistan’s chances of making the semis. Well, former England footballer Gary Lineker and former cricket captain Kevin Pietersen also sense something fishy.

Linekar took to Twitter to express his doubts over the way India approached the game in the last few overs, writing, “Very strange end to this game. Was great until the last few overs.”

Kevin Pietersen was quick to respond to Linekar’s tweet, replying

“Weird, wasn’t it!”