[WATCH] "Rohit Sharma tosses it far away" - Former Pakistan player Sikandar Bakht accuses Team India of fixing tosses at the 2023 ODI World Cup
Former Pakistan bowler Sikandar Bakht has come up with a fresh claim against Team India and their dominant run at the 2023 World Cup. He implied that skipper Rohit Sharma had been flipping the coin too far deliberately during the toss, to not let the opposition captain see the verdict of the process and question the decision by the match referee.
Team India and Pakistan have had contrasting World Cup campaigns. While the Men in Blue became the first team to qualify for the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup, Pakistan were eliminated after finishing fifth with only four wins to their name.
Speaking during a show on Pakistani media, Bakht narrated his theory as to how India are finding a way to manipulate the toss.
"If you see closely enough, whenever Rohit Sharma gets to flip the coin for the toss, he also tosses it far away from the other captain. It is almost far enough that the other captain never really gets to see what the actual outcome of the toss was," he said.
Bakht also proceeded to post the clip of him making the statement on social media, along with a compilation of all tosses from India's matches so far in the tournament.
"Very strange the way Rohit Sharma throw the coin at toss, far away, don’t let other Captains to see, compare to other Captains in the WC , any reason??" he wrote on Twitter.
Team India have won and lost five tosses apiece across the 10 matches they have played in the tournament so far. They lost the toss in their first two league-stage matches against Australia and Afghanistan, but have now won three in a row, including the one during the semi-final clash against New Zealand.
This is not the first time that a former Pakistani player has drawn up some unorthodox theory surrounding India's success.
Former player Hasan Raza had also insinuated that the Indian bowlers are extracting more movement with the ball because they are being given a special batch to use before the innings begins.
"Australia's tour is going to be very difficult, if you send a new captain will struggle" - Sikandar Bakht on Babar Azam's decision to relinquish captaincy across all formats
The fallout from Pakistan's disastrous 2023 World Cup campaign continued as Babar Azam announced his decision to step down as captain across all three formats. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has named Shaheen Afridi as the T20I captain while Shan Masood will assume the Test captaincy.
Speaking on Geo News, Bakht implied that the new Test captain will have a hard time in Australia.
"Why are we creating a fuss about Babar's stance of wanting to be captain in all three formats or none at all. Australia's tour is going to be very difficult, if you send a new captain will struggle [there]," Bakht said.
Pakistan are scheduled to tour Australia for three Tests in the December-January window as part of the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.