Should India lose to England to put Pakistan out of World Cup semis? asks Anand Mahindra

As India are taking on England in the 38th match of the 2019 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup, Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra on Sunday took to social media to ask his followers whether the Men in Blue should play a ‘chess’ move and lose to the Eoin Morgan-led side in order to put their arch-rivals Pakistan out of the semi-final race. 

Mahindra put forth the question on his official Twitter handle while revealing that the majority of the followers feel that Team India always play to win. 

"Should India should play a ‘chess’ move & lose to England to put Pakistan out of the semis? Happily, the majority say that #TeamIndia should always play to win. But some urged me to watch the match if I wanted Pakistan out..  (An inside joke with some of my followers!)," he tweeted.

India are locking horns with England in the second last match of the group stage at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham on Sunday.

A win against the Men in Blue will see England dethrone Pakistan from the fourth spot in the World Cup 2019 points table from which only the top four sides will qualify for the semi-finals after the conclusion of the group stage. Meanwhile, a defeat for unbeaten India is highly unlikely to affect their prospects of making it to the knockout stage of the tournament. 

On Saturday, Pakistan moved up to the fourth place after sealing a narrow three-wicket win against Afghanistan. England, on the other hand, are just one point short of Pakistan to stand at the fifth place. 

Pakistan and India remain arch-rivals and have an intense - often bitter cricketing rivalry. Pakistani fans rarely back the Men in Blue even when India play against other countries and it is also the same vice versa. However, the Pakistani fans would be keeping their fingers crossed and are most likely to cheer for India in their clash against England.