A former Pakistani cricketer made big claims on a Pakistani TV news channel, accusing the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) of cheating during the Cricket World Cup 2023. As per Hasan Raza, BCCI/ICC are giving different balls to India to help them with seam and swing movement. Raza played 7 Tests and 16 ODIs for Pakistan from 1996 to 2005. He was a batter but his returns in international cricket are not worth mentioning.
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Raza, who is a cricket expert with Pakistani channel ABN News, is asked by the anchor whether there is a foulplay happening in India matches that favours the home team. Raza, in reply, says that there could be some changes made to the balls with which Indians are bowling and the matter should be investigated. The anchor asks, “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.”
Raza replies: “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”, says Raza in Urdu. He says that ball is changed when India comes to bowl. Maybe ICC or BCCI is giving a different ball to India. The third umpire has also favoured India in World Cup matches, says Raza.
India pace trio of Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah have been in good form this World Cup. The seam and swing they are getting is unreal. Shami has already picked two five-wicket hauls in this World Cup and increased his tournament wickets to 45, becoming the most successful India bowler. Raza feels there is something wrong with the ball with which the India pacers are bowling.
Watch Hasan Raza accusing BCCI of cheating in World Cup here:
This is serious cricket analysis? Seriously? https://t.co/5Uu3cnZk9c
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) November 3, 2023
Is it a serious cricket show? If not, please mention ‘satire’ ‘comedy’ in English somewhere. I mean_it might be written in Urdu already but unfortunately, I can’t read/understand it. __ https://t.co/BXnmCpgbXy
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) November 3, 2023
These are baseless claims made by a former cricketer and rightfully he has been slammed by others on X (formerly Twitter). Former India opener and cricket expert Aakash Chopra watched the video going viral on X and wrote that this seems like a parody. “Is it a serious cricket show? If not, please mention ‘satire’ ‘comedy’ in English somewhere. I mean…it might be written in Urdu already but unfortunately, I can’t read/understand it,” said Aakash on his X handle after sharing the video. Veteran cricket journalist Ayaz Memon also could not believe that such analysis exist on TV.
The BCCI has not yet responded to the claims made by Raza. We might never see any reaction from the Indian cricket board as they might pass such dubious claims, which is not being taken seriously by anyone of the social media.