Fast bowler Mohammed Shami has now responded to accusations by former Pakistani cricketer Hasan Raza. He alleged that India used different balls to bowl during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. Shami expressed his disappointment on his Instagram story and suggested that Raza should focus on the game.
India are undefeated in the ongoing ICC Men’s World Cup 2023, winning all eight of their matches and securing a spot in the semi-finals. Raza's first claim was that the ICC and BCCI were favouring the Indian team by providing them with different balls than other teams. He claimed that after India's dominant performance against Sri Lanka, where they bowled out the opposition for just 55 runs while defending 357 runs. Mohammed Shami played a crucial role, taking 5/18 in that match.
Raza further claimed that the BCCI was manipulating the Decision Review System (DRS) in India's favour, after a controversial LBW decision involving Heinrich Klaasen.
Shami responded by saying, "Sharm karo yaar game par focus karo na ki faltu bakwas par kabhi to dusre ki success ko enjoy kia karo, Chii yaar ICC World Cup hai apka local cricket tournament, nahi hai or aap player hi the naa."
Shami also pointed out Raza's former player status, implying that he should give more weight to the advice of cricket legends like Wasim Akram, who hails from the same country as Raza. He sarcastically noted that Raza appeared more focused on self-promotion than other things.
"Wasim bhai ne samjhaya hai explain kia tha phir bhi. Apne player, apne Wasim Akram par yakin nahi apko apna tarif karne main lage hai janab aap to just like a wow," Shami said.
"We are seeing that when they are batting, they bat really well and suddenly the ball starts doing things when India bowl. There have been 7-8 close DRS calls that have gone in their favour. The way Siraj and Shami were swinging the ball, it seemed like the ICC or the BCCI were giving them different and suspicious balls in the second innings. There needs to be an inspection done on the ball. There could also be an extra layer of coating on the ball for swing," Raza said while speaking to a channel called ABN.
Earlier, in response to Raza’s allegations, even Pakistani legend Wasim Akram dismissed these claims, suggesting that such allegations were baseless and absurd.
