India’s winning run in the league stage of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 was ended by England. In the high-scoring encounter at Edgbaston, the Men in Blue faced a 31-run triumph. During the post-match presentation, Indian skipper Virat Kohli called the short boundaries of Edgbaston ‘bizarre’ and said that he was astonished seeing the run-flow. Almost a year later, England all-rounder Ben Stokes - who scored a 54-ball 79 in that game – has hit back towards Kohli’s claims and called his comments in that match as the ‘worst complaint ever.’ Ben Stokes Runs First Half-Marathon to Raise Funds for NHS Charity.

Batting first, the home side piled up a massive score of 337/7 in their allotted fifty overs. Opener Jonny Bairstow scored 111 runs off mere 109 deliveries. The Indian spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav struggled in the game a lot as they game away 88 and 72 runs respectively in their quota of 10 overs.

After the match, Virat expressed his displeasure over the boundary sizes. "The toss was vital, especially looking at the boundaries that are this short. Bizarre that it just falls in place with the boundary limitations and with a flat pitch such as this. It's crazy that things fall in place like that randomly. It's the first time we are experiencing this," Kohli had said.

"If batsmen are able to reverse sweep, sweep you for a six on a 59-meter boundary you can't do much as a spinner. They had to be smarter with their lines as it was difficult to contain runs with one short boundary," he had added.

Almost after one-year of that game, Stokes presented his views over Kohli’s remarks in his book ‘Ben Stokes on Fire.’ “… it was weird to hear India captain Kohli whingeing about the size of the boundaries at the post-match presentation ceremony. I have never heard such a bizarre complaint after a match. It’s actually the worst complaint you could ever make,” Ben Stokes wrote in his book.

Despite the loss, India finished the league-stage at the pinnacle. However, they were defeated by New Zealand in the semi-finals and were out of the tournament. On the other hand, the home side defeated the Kiwis in the final and were crowned champions. Ben Stokes was the Man of the Match in the final encounter.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 18, 2020 08:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).