India’s undefeated rampage through their home World Cup has raised more than a few eyebrows with a former Pakistan star claiming to have uncovered a conspiracy.
There have been regular claims that India have been set up to claim their home tournament, having won all 10 of their games easily.
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While cricket pundits raged over the revelation that the pitch for India’s ODI World Cup semi-final against New Zealand had been hand chosen and curated to suit the host nation, another drama erupted when 26-Test and 27-ODI Pakistani fast bowler Sikander Bakht floated a fresh conspiracy.
He claimed that Indian captain Rohit Sharma purposely tossed the coin in a way that rolled away from the toss and meant the opposition captain couldn’t see the outcome of the toss for themselves.
In Wednesday’s match, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson took the match referee’s word about the toss as the coin had come to rest several metres away.
It then would allow the match referee to simply say it had landed whichever way would benefit India most.
This is despite Sharma winning five and losing five tosses during the event.
There is no suggestion that either Sharma or the match referee have done anything wrong.
“Can I give you a conspiracy theory?” Bakht said on Geo News. “At the time of the toss, Rohit Sharma throws the coin distant from the range of any opposition captain. Thus, the opposition captain cannot go and crosscheck about the call.”
Bakht doubled down on X, where he posted the clip, writing: “Very strange the way Rohit Sharma throws the coin at the toss, far away, don’t let other captains see, compared to other captains in the WC, any reason?”
Speaking to Fox Cricket, a source from the New Zealand camp said Sharma’s coin tosses had raised eyebrows during the tournament.
However, the conspiracy has been rubbished by his own countrymen, with Wasim Akram and Moin Khan trashing the comments.
Speaking on A Sports’ show The Pavillion, Akram said, “Who decides where the coin should land? It is just for sponsorship, coin can go anywhere — I feel embarrassed.”
Khan, who was also on the show, added: “This is not true, I think he is mistaken. He is just creating a fuss, that’s it, nothing else. Because, every captain has a different way of tossing the coin, there is nothing in that.”
It’s just the latest conspiracy theory to explain why the world’s No. 1 ODI team with three of the top five ranked batters and bowlers who are playing at home have gone through the tournament undefeated.
It comes after claims that the ICC and BCCI were changing out balls during the game in a bid to explain why India’s pace bowlers appeared to be getting more swing.
Ex-Pakistani cricketer Hasan Raza said on ABN News: “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. An inspection is required to be done on the ball. There might be an additional layer of coating for a better swing.”
Raza also claimed India had manipulated the DRS reviews.
Akram responded to these claims as well, saying: “I have been reading about it from last couple of days. I want to have the same things these guys are having … sounds like fun.”
He went on to explain that the balls were selected by the team from a box of 12 balls after the toss in front of the four umpires and the match referee, while the remainder of the balls are taken to the other team, who select their balls.
He also had a simple reason for why the Indian bowlers had been able to get success.
“The arguments in our country for the past three-four days is that no other bowlers are able to swing the ball,” Akram said. “Also think, these bowlers maybe they have learnt something more, maybe they are better right now. Maybe we should appreciate them.”
Indian star Mohammed Shami took to Instagram to slam the conspiracy.
“Have some shame,” he wrote of Raza.
“Focus on the game and not this nonsense. Sometimes, you should enjoy the success of others. This is World Cup and not your local tournament.
“You were once a player, right? Wasim bhai had explained it, and yet. You don’t trust your own player? You are only praising yourself.”
Fans and conspiracy theorists have also pointed to the semi-final pitch debacle before the India-New Zealand clash, which saw the home side book their place in Sunday’s Final in a 70-run victory.
According to the Daily Mail, the semi-final pitch had been moved to the ground’s sixth pitch, which had already staged two games at the World Cup.
It was meant to be played on pitch seven, which was a fresh pitch.
The Indian Express also reported Indian officials asked BCCI curators to shave off most of the grass on the playing surface, which was meant to result in a slow pitch for the semi-final.
A slow, turning pitch would have been expected to suit India’s spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav, and yet off 10 overs each, they claimed 0/63 and 1/56 respectively, while Mohammed Shami took 7/57.
According to the International Cricket Council’s tournament playing conditions, the relevant ground authority — in this case the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) — “is responsible for the selection and preparation of the pitch before any given match”.
The Mail claimed the ICC’s independent pitch consultant Andy Atkinson was frustrated by changes to pre-tournament plans.
They quoted a leaked email in which he speculated whether the pitch for Sunday’s final in Ahmedabad “will be the first ever ICC CWC final to have a pitch which has been specifically chosen and prepared to their stipulation at the request of the team management and/or the hierarchy of the home nation board”.
India ended up scoring 4/397, dismissing New Zealand for 327 to book their place in the World Cup final.
With AFP
