“Don’t Teach Us,” Inzamam-ul-Haq’s Ball Tampering Accusations on Rohit Sharma-Led India: All You Need to Know
On June 24, India knocked out Australia from the T20 World Cup 2024. The credit goes majorly to Rohit Sharma’s 92 off 41 to lead his team to a 24-run victory in the Super 8 match.
India was put to bat first. They posted a target of 205/5 on the board. While chasing the target, Australia had to face skilled bowlers from Men in Blue. In the very first over, David Warner was dismissed by Arshdeep Singh. After that Singh brushed off Tim David and Matthew Wade to lead India to a 24-run victory.
This victory faces allegations of ball tampering by ex-Pakistani cricketer, Inzamam ul Haq.
Inzamam ul Haq accusations on Arshdeep Singh
Speaking with a Pakistani News channel, Inzamam ul Haq alleges that Indian pacer had deliberately tampered with the ball to achieve a reverse swing.
“When Arshdeep was bowling the 15th over, it was reverse swinging. Is that too early with the new ball? This means the ball was ready by the 12th-13th over, it was capable of reversing. It was reverse-swinging in the 15th. Umpires need to keep their eyes open,”
When this statement was conveyed to the Indian captain, Rohit Sharma, he denied the accusations.
Rohit Sharma Response To Inzamam ul Haq
Firmly denying the accusation, Sharma spoke to the press conference,
“What should I say now about this? You are playing in such hot sun, the wicket is so dry, the ball reverses automatically. It’s happening for all the teams, not only ours. All the teams are reverse swinging. Sometimes, it’s important to open your mind,”
This seems to have sparked a controversy as Inzamam ul Haq hit back at Rohit as,
“We shall definitely use our brains but the first thing is that he (Rohit) admitted that it’s happening. So it means what we observed is correct. Secondly, Rohit does not need to tell us how reverse swing works, under how much sun, on what pitch; you don’t teach something to someone who actually taught it to the world. Tell him it’s not right to say these things.”
Inzamam said on Pakistan’s 24 News HD, the same show where he earlier had made ball tampering allegation on the Indian bowler.
Virendra Sehwag’s Opinion
Sehwag finds it wrong on part of media to raise the questions which can ‘create controversy’. He seems upset about Inzamam being quoted in the press conference,
“I’ve a problem with one thing. Someone has given a statement, even if I say something… It is not the job of a reporter to quote someone and ask others for their opinion. This is wrong. You don’t have a question of your own? You want answer on someone else’s statement. You’re trying to create controversy. If I were there, I wouldn’t have replied at all,” Sehwag told Cricbuzz.
Former Indian opener has faced Inzamam ul Haq numberless times in the game in 2000s. He felt that there was no need to escalate the matter and create a controversy.
Tabinda Mir is a writer from Kashmir. She is an English Honours graduate and her interests primarily dwell in poetry and sports writing. She likes to cover Cricket as an avid fan. Apart from sports, her other publications include articles, poems and a letter to summer in the book titled, “Under The Summer Skies”.
Also, her leisure time activities include reading novels, poetry, non literary works, philosophies and writing poetry, short stories, articles on diverse themes.
