Karachi:Former Pakistan batsman Basit Ali says losing a league game after qualifying for knockouts in big tournaments to find weaker opponents there has always been a normal thing and has never been a big deal.
Basit Ali is apparently of the view that if a team has performed well in the tournament and qualified for the knockouts with league games remaining then they can throw matches to setup a knockout game against a weaker opponent as a part of team’s strategy to qualify for stages as high as possible.
The issue came into limelight when Pakistan former Pakistan pacer Sikander Bakht claimed that English all-rounder Ben Stokes has accused India of throwing away robin round fixture against England in last World Cup to elbow out Pakistan out of the title race.
However, Ben Stokes has alleged Bakht for ‘twisting’ his words where he didn’t say India threw the match to obstruct Pakistan from qualifying for the semifinals. However, he did say India didn’t put their best in the game. Pakistan needed India to win the game to progress for the semifinals.
While speaking to a news channel, Basit said that throwing a league game to setup a knockout game against a weaker has always happened and there’s nothing big in that.
Meanwhile, he said that ICC would not hold ICC T20 World Cup this year and postpone it, which will pave the way for delayed Indian Premier League (IPL) to be held in 2020.
ICC has been accused of being under immense pressure from BCCI to delay the T20 World Cup on the pretext of Covid-19 pandemic so that it can hold IPL this year.
Basit Ali added that if his prediction that T20 World Cup is not postponed and IPL is not held in the 2020, then he would not appear on TV anymore.