Former Pakistan player Hasan Raza makes bizarre claim; Says Indian bowlers are getting special balls in CWC 2023

Hasan Raza had played 7 test matches and 16 ODIs for Pakistan.

Former Pakistani cricketer Hasan Raza has made a serious allegation against ICC and BCCI, saying that they are providing special balls to Indian bowlers in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 to make them more lethal.

Notably, Hasan Raza held the record for being the youngest cricketer to play test cricket. When he made his test debut for Pakistan in 1996 against Zimbabwe, Raza was 14 years and 227 days old. But later, Pakistani board withdrew the record, as it was revealed to be a false claim.

His words came after India routed Sri Lanka in their latest CWC 2023 match in Mumbai on Thursday. After setting a target of 358 runs, Indian bowlers blew away Lankan batters, as Mohammed Shami (5/18) and Mohammed Siraj (3/16) shared 8 wickets between them.

Sri Lanka were bowled out for 55 runs and lost the game by 302 runs. With this win, India also became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals in CWC 2023.

Hasan Raza alleges that ICC and BCCI are helping Indian bowlers

Reacting to Sri Lanka’s thrashing by Indian bowlers, Hasan Raza, while conversing on Pakistani channel ‘ABN,’ said that Indian bowlers are looking lethal because they get special balls from BCCI and ICC.

Anchor of the show asked Raza: “Is there a possibility that Indian bowlers are given a different ball? The amount of seam and swing Indian bowlers are getting it seems Indian bowlers are bowling on a bowling wicket, ‘ajeebo gareeb’ (weird) seam and swing.”

“Shayad ball be change ho jata hai second innings mein; jiss tareeke se ICC ball de raha hai, ya fir third umpire panel de raha hai, ya BCCI de raha hai; iska inspection hona chahiye”, says Raza.

In summary, Raza, who represented Pakistan in seven test matches and sixteen One-Day Internationals from 1996 to 2005, claimed that Indian bowlers are given special balls that allow them to extract an absurd amount of seam and swing and that there is a connection between ICC, BCCI, and the umpires who provide the balls.