During the T20 World Cup 2024 as Indian pacer Arshdeep Singh was wreaking havoc on the opposition, former Pakistan cricketer Inzamam-ul-Haq made a bizarre claim that perhaps the Indian bowlers tampered the ball. His comments stemmed from the fact that Indian pacers were generating swing late in the 14th over of the innings. Star India pacer, Mohammed Shami had termed Inzamam’s remarks as “cartoonish” in a recent chat.
“The team that performs against them (Pakistan) gets targeted there. Suppose I bowled with the device and pressed the button incorrectly. I intended to bowl an inswinger but it turned into an outswinger, resulting in a boundary. Ye cartoon giri kahin aur chal sakti hai, yeh public ko bewakoof banane wali baate hain (This kind of cartoonish behavior can happen elsewhere; these are just ways to fool the public),” Shami had said on Shubhankar Mishra’s YouTube channel.
Also read: Inzamam-ul-Haq accuses Indian team of ball-tampering versus Australia
Shami’s rebuttal, though, irked former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali who noted that the Indian pacer’s choice of words was distasteful. He added that Shami’s remark about a legend like Inzamam was indecent and urged him to treat the former Pakistan skipper with some respect.
“If you think Inzi bhai said something wrong, say it nicely. Don’t call him a cartoon and all that. Have some respect. He’s a senior. You should respect your seniors. If you don’t, cricket will make you cry 300 days out of 365 and only make you happy for 65 days. So, please don’t do this, it’s a personal request,” Basit said on his YouTube channel.
“Be a bit more careful, you can’t just say anything anywhere. Whatever question is asked, you keep giving ‘behuda’ (indecent) answers. I’m using the right word, ‘behuda (indecent)’. Aapne behuda zabaan use kiya hai (You’ve used indecent language). Your elders probably never taught you this,” he added.
It is worth noting that such allegations have been made previously as well. Pakistan cricketer Hasan Raza had alleged that ICC and BCCI to supplied special balls to Indian pacers during the ODI World Cup 2023. He went to the extent of claiming that an additional layer had been put on the ball to make it swing better. Raza also claimed that the balls contained a “microchip” as the likes of Mohammed Siraj, Shami, and Jasprit Bumrah were swinging the ball prodigiously. Incidentally, Shami had responded in his own style even back then.
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