Ben Stokes slams India for lack of intent in WC loss; calls out Sikander Bakht for twisting facts

In his new book, ‘On Fire,’ English all-rounder Ben Stokes slammed India’s intent in their group-stage encounter against England, where Virat Kohli and co crashed to a defeat. After the partnership between Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, where they scored 138 runs, the game looked in India’s favour, with their firepower later down the order. 

However, that was not the case as the visitors fell short of the target by 31 runs despite losing only five wickets. Following that game, Stokes admitted that he never understood the approach taken by Dhoni and Jadhav in the middle, as they batted the overs out instead of scoring at a steady pace. 

"Arguably, the way MS Dhoni played when he came in with 112 runs needed from 11 overs was even stranger. He appeared more intent on singles than sixes. Even with a dozen balls remaining, India could still have won. There was little or no intent from him (Dhoni) or his partner Kedar Jadhav. To me, while victory is still possible you always go for broke,” he wrote, reported India Today. 

"They allowed their team to get so far behind the game. They showed no desire to put any pressure back onto our team, content instead to just drift along, a tactic that was clearly playing into our hands," Stokes added. 

After Stokes’ comments, former Pakistan pacer Sikander Bakht commented that India lost the game against England deliberately to eliminate his nation from the tournament. 

However, responding to that, the English all-rounder slammed the pacer down by revealing that what the pacer did was twisting of words and nothing less.