‘Is it a serious cricket show?’ - Aakash Chopra reacts to Hasan Raza asking for investigation over India receiving different balls

Former Pakistan cricketer Hasan Raza came under the radar after he urged for an investigation to happen over the balls that the Indian players receive during their matches after the hosts dismantled Sri Lanka’s batting attack in the ODI World Cup 2023. 

On a Pakistan news channel, Raza stated that the way the ICC is giving the balls to Team India, or how the umpires are giving them, should be under inspection. The entire discussion came to light when the Men in Blue registered a mammoth 302-run victory against Sri Lanka.

“We are not able to understand batsmen playing against other teams but whenever India begins their bowling, bowlers like Shami and Siraj look like when we used to play Allan Donald and Makhaya Ntini in South Africa. There used to be a shine on the ball on one side and there it used to seam and swing, but here I think even the ball is getting changed in second innings. The way ICC is giving these balls, or maybe the third umpire or BCCI is giving…I think these balls should be inspected,” Raza said.

Seeing the statement, former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra took to Twitter and could not believe it. Posting on the social media platform, Aakash Chopra asked whether it was a serious cricket show, and Hasan Raza raised the question. 

“Is it a serious cricket show? If not, please mention ‘satire’ ‘comedy’ in English somewhere. I mean…it might be written in Urdu already but unfortunately, I can’t read/understand it,” Aakash Chopra tweeted.

India continue their winning run following dominant performances

The Indian team took on Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday, November 2. Both sides faced each other in the 33rd game of the the ODI World Cup 2023 after the Men in Blue posted a total of 357 runs on the board in the first innings, After brilliant knocks by Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer, the bowlers did an impressive job in defending the total. 

Mohammed Shami took five wickets, Mohammed Siraj took three, with Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja striking once each as Sri Lanka were bundled out for just 55 runs, as India won the game by a huge margin of 302 runs.