‘Great for cricket that India lost World Cup final. They were overconfident’: Ex-Pak star Abdul Razzaq’s fresh low blow
Abdul Razzaq has launched a fresh tirade against the Indian cricket team following their defeat to Australia in the World Cup final. Razzaq, the former Pakistan all-rounder, who in the past too has spewed venom against India with some nonsensical comments, and was recently under fire for a degrading remark on Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, this time has stated that India did not deserve to win cricket’s ultimate prize since they doctored the pitches way too much.
Another bitter remark targetted at India by Abdul Razzaq(Screengrab/AFP)
India’s defeat by six wickets on Sunday continues to sting. Easily the favourites to end their 10-year-long wait for an ICC title, the Men in Blue were destined to go all the way before they misread the conditions. On a slowish surface, the Aussie bowlers strangled India to 240, and Travis Head’s century in chase sealed Australia a record-extending sixth World Cup title. While the entire nation and several former cricketers have come out in support of the India team – Pakistan included – encouraging them to come out of the heartbreak stronger, Razzaq called India overconfident and accused them of tampering with the pitch in Ahmedabad to their own advantage.
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“Indians were over-confident. Cricket won and India lost. Had India won the World Cup, it would have been a very sad moment for the game. They used conditions to their advantage and I have never seen such a bad pitch for any ICC final before. It’s great for cricket that India lost,” he said on the Pakistani TV show ‘Hasna Mana Hai‘.
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Razzaq tried to prove his point by highlighting the two very contrasting semi-finals. The first one between India and New Zealand at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium proved to be a high-scoring game with nearly 700 runs being scored, while the second knockouts just a day later in Kolkata’s Eden Gardens. The surface used for the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium was something totally different though.
As India limped to just under 250 in what looked like a treacherous pitch to bat on, once the dew settled in the second innings, run-scoring got easier and the threat of spinners was negated as Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja went wicketless. And of course, Head happened. Razzaq added that any team – in this case, India – that tried to make conditions more favourable towards them – does not deserve to win anything, let alone the World Cup.
“Had India won, we would have felt very bad, because they were utilising the conditions, one semi-final they scored 400, the other team scores 350. In the other semi-final, 220-230 runs were scored. Then in the final 240 runs were scored. That means there is something wrong (with the conditions). The pitches and the atmosphere should be fair. There should be fair pitches, fair atmosphere, both teams should have balance. Today also India took advantage. Had Kohli (Virat) scored 100, then India would have won the World Cup,” he pointed out.
