India’s defeat in the ICC Cricket World Cup semi-final against New Zealand was a debatable topic for many so as their chase in their game against the hosts, England. England all-rounder Ben Stokes had recently spoken about in his book how they were quite surprised at the way India played against them.

However, the matter caught the eyeball of everyone after former Pakistan players said that India lost the game deliberately just to stop Pakistan to qualify for the knockout stages in the tournament. Meanwhile, former West Indies pacer turned cricket pundit Michael Holding has something else to say.

"To be honest, a lot of people watching that game perhaps wouldn't have arrived to the same conclusion that Ben Stokes arrived at that India were not trying to win," he said on his YouTube channel. "It was not the game that India had to win, but I don't think anyone can say that was a team tactic to lose the game.”

He further added, “I watched that game and it appeared to me as if India weren't putting up their 100 per cent, but I realised it was not the case when the expression on MS Dhoni's face told me that he desperately wanted to win, so I do not think it was a team decision to not try to win. But I don't think they went with the same intensity of wanting to win the game, say, if it was a do-or-die situation. If it was, we would have seen a different game."

Former Pakistan bowler Sikander Bakht has claimed on Twitter that Ben Stokes, in his book, has said that India lost intentionally to England so that Pakistan doesn’t qualify for the knockout stages in the World Cup. In response to his tweet, a Twitter user asked him the source.

With much surprise, the star England all-rounder himself replied: "You won't find it cause I have never said it... it's called "twisting of words" or "click bait"." Even, IANS has also reviewed the book and there was no such mention about the game. Although, Stokes does talk about the approach of their chase since it is not a smart way to play as the required run-rate starts piling up and it affects the game of the players too.