Mohali match: Doubts are ‘fixed’

MUMBAI: The defeat of Pakistan at the hands of its arch-rival India in the semifinals of the Cricket World Cup (CWC) in Mohali on Wednesday has sent the rumor-mill into overdrive, with several cricketers and betting punters claiming that it was a one-sided match and match-fixing had definitely played a role.“How else could a good Pakistani bowler like Umar Gul have allowed India’s opening batsman Virender Sehwag to smash him for fours and sixes?” queried cricket enthusiast Mubin Khan of Dadar suburb. “And why did Afridi continue with Gul when the latter was proving expensive, especially when he gave 21 runs in a single over?”Suresh Bhagwat, a human resources manager in a multinational company in Andheri, agreed, saying Pakistan must have thrown the game.“Forget Gul being smashed all around, what about the four easy catches of Tendulkar that they dropped? The catch the experienced Pakistani cricketer Younis Khan floored of Tendulkar was just shocking. Later Younis did not perform with the bat either. This clearly indicates the match was fixed.”Ravi Batliwala, a transport contractor, suggested that they deliberately played poor shots. “The Pakistani fielding was extremely bad — worse than their bowling and batting. Their middle batting just caved in. All the cricketers played as they were in a drama. Several of the Pakistani cricketers perhaps played deliberate poor shots, including the one by Pakistani captain Shahid Afridi.”Iqbal Konkani, a fish merchant in Dongri suburb, said: “Look at the way Misbah batted. He did not score more than eight runs in 12 overs and was playing defensive shots. Even TV commentators were screaming as to why he was not going out and hitting when the required rate was climbing to as high as 12 per over. This reminded me of a former Pakistani cricketer Mudassar Nazar who batted the whole day and scored no more than 20 runs. And Misbah hit one or two fours in the final over. What does this all point to?”Anniruddh Deshpande, a cricketing coach at the Oval Grounds in downtown Mumbai, said: “I really did not understand the logic of the Pakistani captain of not availing the batting power-play when it was required badly, between the 40th and 45th over. Why was it not taken when it is availed between the 45th and 50th over without being asked? Even the TV commentators were surprised by this. And why did the Pakistani players play bad shots, including Afridi? Misbah was perhaps deliberately not playing his shots till the last over. This gives credence to doubts about the match.” Even the political right-wingers weighted in, with the aging and sick Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray saying he was happy that “India inflicted a shameful defeat on Pakistan.”He said that India’s victory meant that the “ugly feet of the Pakistanis would not touch the soil of Mumbai,” in the Cricket World Series Final on Saturday.