ICC World Cup: ‘ICC, BCCI giving suspicious balls to Mohammed Shami, Siraj,’ ex-Pakistan batter cries foul play

ICC World Cup 2023: India is continuing its winning streak in this World Cup as they registered their 7th consecutive victory against Sri Lanka on Thursday. Team India batters are playing well in this tournament as they crushed strong bowling attacks, but when it comes to India's pace attack- Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, and Jasprit Bumrah have been unbeatable so far. The Indian pacers are doing such great work that former Pakistan players have raised doubts around foul play in the matches.

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Former Pakistan cricketer Hasan Raza alleged during a television interview that the ICC and BCCI are favoring Indian cricketers and questioned how the ball behaves differently during India's turn. Hasan Raza even raised doubts about the DRS decision, which as per him were given mostly in India's favour.

"We are seeing that when they are batting, they bat really well, and suddenly the ball starts doing things when India bowls. There have been 7-8 close DRS calls that have gone in their favor. 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," Hasan Raza said while speaking to a channel called ABN.

“India had three fielders in place and even KL Rahul was standing long behind the stumps. It means that the ball had that hardness even after so many overs. Shami picked 5 wickets for some 18 runs, Siraj got 3. I can't imagine that these are international batters and they're all getting out playing across. It's almost as if the ball that is used earlier vanishes. So I supposed this should be looked into,” the former cricketer added. 

Not new to controversies

Notably, Hasan Raza is not new to controversies as the former cricketer was alleged to be involved in an alleged spot-fixing case in 2018. He played for Pakistan as a batter between 1996 and 2005 and remained part of the team for 7 Tests and 16 ODI matches.

The remarks by the former Pakistan cricketers come as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has raised several objectives with the ICC on how Pakistan players are treated unfairly at the Indian grounds. After the India vs Pakistan match, Pakistan team director Mickey Arthur remarked that it seemed like a "BCCI event."