Watch: “ICC giving different balls to Indian bowlers for more swing”- Former PAK cricketer goes mad; accuses ICC of match-fixing

On Thursday, the world witnessed one of the best presentations of fast bowling when Indian pacers ran through the Sri Lankan batting order at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Team India registered their 7th consecutive win in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 and made a grand entry to the semifinals. They hammered Sri Lanka by a record margin of 302 runs.

It was the second time since the final of the Asia Cup 2023 in Colombo that the Sri Lankan batters didn’t have any answers against the Indian fast bowlers. Sri Lanka won the toss and asked India to bat first. Rohit Sharma got out early, but Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill took the innings together. Shreyas Iyer added some flair to the inning and played well for 82 runs. India made a massive total of 357/8 in the first inning.

“ICC is giving different balls to India for more swing and seam”- EX-PAK cricketer accuses ICC and BCCI after India’s 302-run win

Virat made 88 runs, and Gill scored 92 runs in the first inning. It looked like Sri Lanka might try to go for the chase. But the second inning had some exceptional bowling performances from India’s pacers. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj pick up a wicket on their first ball of the match. Mohammed Shami followed it up with another fifer.

Three pacers were swinging the ball in both directions at will. None of the Sri Lankan batters had an answer to it. Sri Lanka got all out for just 55 runs in 19.3 overs. With that win, India secured a place in the semifinals. But some Pakistani former cricketers couldn’t digest India’s success.

Former Pakistani player Hasan Raza accused the ICC of giving some different balls to Indian bowlers when they came out to bowl. On a Pakistani TV channel, he said, “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 of the ball. There could also be an extra layer of coating on the ball for swing.”