India’s thumping victories over Afghanistan and Scotland have sent fans into a state of jubilation, with the team’s performances triggering hopes of a late charge for the T20 World Cup 2021 semi-finals. But certain fans across the border haven’t been pleased seeing the Indian team making such progress.

Allegations of India’s match against Afghanistan being fixed were all over the internet after Virat Kohli & Co. bagged an 8-wicket triumph. Even after the match against Scotland, such chatter continued, leaving many Indian fans and experts of the game bemused. Harbhajan Singh, in a video on his YouTube channel, has given a sharp retort to those levelling ‘fixing’ allegations on these matches.

Pakistan have unarguably been the most in-form team in Group-2 this T20 World Cup, winning all four of their matches so far to secure a semi-finals spot as the group winners. While Harbhajan admitted that Babar Azam & Co. deserve all the praise they are getting, to claim that India’s victories were down to the matches being fixed is wrong.

“We accept that Pakistan have played very good cricket and everyone also appreciates them for playing so well against India and beating them. Congratulations on that. But if you start misbehaving by claiming that you play fair cricket and if we win, you doubt us, term it unfair, fixed then that is wrong. We all know your cricketers’ reputation.”

Even Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan was reportedly targeted by trolls on social media after he failed to pick up a single wicket in the match against India. Infuriated with such grave allegations being made against cricketers, including Rashid, Harbhajan termed those making such comments ‘disgraceful’.

“Pakistan fans are unable to digest their win over India, which they got after waiting for so many years in World Cups. There is a way to talk and raise questions. But people are putting serious allegations against us, against Rashid Khan which is pretty cheap and disgraceful,” he further said in the video.

Social media has been full of negative comments about Indian cricketers ever since Virat Kohli’s men suffered a 10-wicket defeat against Pakistan in their T20 World Cup 2021 opener. India’s recent wins over Afghanistan and Scotland have earned them a small chance of semi-finals qualification, although the team’s fate is in the hands of the Afghanistan team who need to beat New Zealand for the Men in Blue to come into the picture again.

While there’s no denying that Afghanistan’s victory over the Kiwis would be termed as an upset, even former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar feels the comments on social media will be hard to control if such a thing happens.