India demolished Sri Lanka in their recent ICC World Cup 2023 match in Mumbai on November 2. This was India’s 7th straight win in the tournament, which also took them into the semi-finals.
India was put into bat first by Sri Lanka and scored 357/8 in 50 overs. Shubman Gill (92), Virat Kohli (88) and Shreyas Iyer (82) were the main scorers for Men in Blue. Dilshan Madushanka with 5/80 was the star for Sri Lanka.
In response, Mohammad Shami with 5/18 and Mohammed Siraj with 3/16 routed the Sri Lankan batting lineup in a repeat of the Asia Cup 2023 final. Sri Lanka was bowled out for 55 runs and lost by 302 runs.
While talking about this match, former Pakistan cricketer Hasan Raza, on a Pakistani TV show, made laughable allegations about ICC and the Indian team.
During one such conversation on a news channel ‘ABN’, the anchor of the said cricket show had a very curious query to ask Raza. Are Indian bowlers given some special balls to bowl that is making them look extraordinary?
He asked: “Is there a possibility that Indian bowlers are given a different ball? The amount of seam and swing Indian bowlers are getting it seems Indian bowlers are bowling on a bowling wicket, ‘ajeebo gareeb’ (weird) seam and swing.”
To this, Hasan Raza gave a stunning reply which is hard to believe.
He said: “Shayad ball be change ho jata hai second innings mein; jiss tareeke se ICC ball de raha hai, ya fir third umpire panel de raha hai, ya BCCI de raha hai; iska inspection hona Chahiye.”
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Hasan Raza was the youngest ever to play Test cricket when he made his Pakistan debut at the age of 14 years and 227 days in 1996. In a gist, Raza alleged that there is a nexus between the ICC, BCCI, and the Umpire who provide the balls and that the Indian bowlers are given some unique balls helping them extract an insane amount of seam and swing.
He further said that a few of the DRS decisions have gone India’s way or have favored India heavily and this is something that has to be investigated.
The anchor chimes in saying how can on a pitch where every other bowler is looking ordinary, Indian bowlers can be extraordinary. He goes on to say that if Pakistan plays India again, the captain should check the balls similar to how balls are checked in tape-ball cricket.
Reacting to the same, former India opener Aakash Chopra said that he failed to figure out whether what Raza said was satire or whether it was a serious cricket show.
Chopra posted: “Is it a serious cricket show? If not, please mention ‘satire’ or ‘comedy’ in English somewhere. I mean…it might be written in Urdu already but unfortunately, I can’t read/understand it.”
