Cricket World Cup: Indian cricket team will play New Zealand in the semi-finals.© AFP
India’s dominance in the Cricket World Cup 2023 has been such that some retired cricketers have been left scratching their heads, wondering how Rohit Sharma’s men have done so well, both with the bat and the ball. Former Pakistan cricketer Hasan Raza has even accused the Indian team of cheating, suggesting the home team has been using different balls when they bowl, in comparison to when they bat. Responding to such accusations, former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja lauded the Indian team, saying India’s dominance with both the bat and the ball is “jaadugari (magic)”.
“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,” Hasan Raza had said, accusing the Indian team of cheating.
Heaping praise on Indian pacers’ ability to swing the ball, Ramiz said on Suno News: “Yes it can happen that when Pakistani batsmen are batting, the cricket ball seems as small as a golf ball to them. That is the only difference. I don’t think there’s any other difference. Ye jaadugari hai (it’s a magic). This control, swing, seam movement. This is greatness. This is a skill; we should appreciate this skill because at the end of the day, when players like these emerge, the level of cricket goes up. They are setting up the level, other teams have to reach their level. When a sub-continent team is doing like this, why can’t Pakistan do this?”
India would hope to continue their form in the next two games as the look to bring an end to the 12-year wait of winning the ICC ODI World Cup.
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