India rocked by bizarre match-fixing claims
A high-profile Indian celebrity has levelled some big claims at Virat Kohli's side following their loss in the Champions Trophy final.
Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Amir shone as Pakistan defied the odds to overwhelm arch-rivals India by 180 runs and pull off a major upset at The Oval.
Fakhar capitalised on a lucky escape to strike a superb 114 and lift Pakistan to a commanding total of 4-338 and fast bowler Amir ripped out India's top three batsmen before the defending champions subsided to 158 all out.
Pakistan had come into the tournament as the lowest-ranked team and lost heavily to India in their opening group match before storming into the final.
International Bollywood celebrity Kamaal Rashid Khan took to Twitter in the aftermath with claims India threw the match on purpose, accusing them of "playing by the script."
The movie star and cricketing fanatic was particularly critical of Kohli after the Indian skipper was dismissed for just 5.
1)All the players of Indian team should be banned by govt from playing cricket coz they have sold themselves n pride of India. #IndVsPak
— KRK (@kamaalrkhan) June 18, 2017
2)Virat Kohli should be banned from playing cricket for lifetime for selling pride of 130Cr Indians to Pakistan. He shud be behind the bars.
— KRK (@kamaalrkhan) June 18, 2017
5) You all fixers @imVkohli @YUVSTRONG12 @msdhoni shud stop fooling ppl n retire immediately if you ppl have even little shame #IndVsPak
— KRK (@kamaalrkhan) June 18, 2017
Khan claims Hardik Pandya - who blazed a brilliant 76 off just 43 balls - was the only Indian batsman not trying to lose the game on purpose.
8)If Hardik Pandya can score runs then why can't score top players? Because actually they didn't want to win the match #ChampionsTrophyFinal
— KRK (@kamaalrkhan) June 18, 2017
9) Only Pandya didn't know anyting about fixing so he was trying to win match. But then fixer Jadeja made him run out to get defeated 4sure.
— KRK (@kamaalrkhan) June 18, 2017
10)Entire Indian team can never get out under 100 runs (Excluding 76 of Pandya) if match is not fixed. All Indian players got out themselvs.
— KRK (@kamaalrkhan) June 18, 2017
Pandya was run out by teammate Ravindra Jadeja in a bizarre mix-up that saw Jadeja make every effort to ensure he was the batsman to stay at the crease despite only making 15 off 26 balls.
Jadeja and Pandya were both in the middle of the pitch at one stage, but Jadeja refused to sacrifice himself despite being the inferior batsman.
Khan posted a video of the Indian players joking and laughing with their counterparts after the match as 'evidence', while also asking his 4.2 million followers what they thought in a poll.
I say that #ChampionsTrophyFinal was fixed. What do you say?
— KRK (@kamaalrkhan) June 18, 2017
See! How much happy are Kohli and company after losing #ChampionsTrophyFinal pic.twitter.com/Zx8xz3b4uv
— KRK (@kamaalrkhan) June 19, 2017
Former Test star Aamir Sohail also seemingly accused Pakistan of match-fixing after they managed to defeat tournament favourites England in the semis.
"Someone needs to tell Sarfraz...You have done nothing special. These matches have been won for you by someone. There is no need for you to get over smart and smug as we all know what happens and what does not," he said on national television.
Sohail was slammed by fans before trying to clarify his comments.
"The other thing I said was that the facilitators of the win cannot be named; however I said nothing about match-fixing or any other foul play — my statement was misunderstood."