Former Pakistan batter Inzamam-ul-Haq came up with a bizarre accusations of ball tampering against Team India pacer Arshdeep Singh during the T20 World Cup 2024 Super 8 match against Australia at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in St. Lucia in Gros Islet on Monday, June 24.
Arshdeep Singh was one of the instrumental players in the Men in Blue's 24-run win over Australia and officially sealing the berth in the semifinal. The young left arm-pacer picked three wickets while conceding 37 runs to restrict Australia 181/7 when they were chasing 206-run target.
Speaking in a Pakistani news channel, Inzamam-ul-Haq said that Arshdeep Singh's ball suddenly started to reverse swing in the 15th over of India's bowling and urged umpires to keep their eyes on.
"You can't ignore the fact that when Arshdeep Singh was bowling the 15th over, the ball was reverse-swinging. Isn't it too early for the new ball to start reversing? The ball began to reserve by 12-13th over of the match. Umpires should keep their eyes open." former Pakistan cricketer said.
Arshdeep Singh provided a big breakthrough for Team India by dismissing David Warner on the last ball of the first innings. In his next two overs of his spell, the 25-year-old went wicketless before he sent back Matthew Wade and Tim David to the pavilion in the 18th over of the Australia's run-chase.
After Tim David's dismissal at 166/7, Pat Cummins (11*) and Mitchell Starc (4*) could add only 15 runs to Australia's total and fell 25 runs short of achieving the 206-run target.
Inzamam-ul-Haq on how the cricket fraternity would react if Pakistan found tampering the ball
Former Pakistan batter said that there would have been a massive uproar and debate if the Men in Green caught dabbling with the ball during the match. He added that Jasprit Bumrah can reserve swing the ball because of his unique bowling actions. Inzamam-ul-Haq also said that India had done some serious work with the ball against Australia.
"If the Pakistani bowlers had done something like this, there would have been a massive uproar. We know reverse swing very well. If Arshdeep can reverse the ball in the 15th over, it means that something serious was done on ball." Inzamam said.
"Jasprit Bumrah can do reverse swing because of his action. For some bowlers, the ball needs to be worked on for them to get reverse swing," concluded.
Arshdeep Singh is the currently the leading wicket-taker for Team India in T20 World Cup 2024, with 15 wickets at an average of 11.86 and an economy rate of 7.41.
