"When I heard this, I wondered how can someone ask such a stupid question?" - Mohammed Shami on World Cup 2023 ball controversy claim by Hasan Raza
Indian pacer Mohammed Shami opened up on the ball-tampering claims made by former Pakistan cricketer Hasan Raza during the 2023 World Cup.
The remark by Raza came after the Indian pacers had been ruling the roost with the ball during the tournament. He alleged that India was given a different set of balls by the ICC and BCCI, leading to them achieving tremendous success.
While Raza's comments received severe backlash from several former cricketers, Shami chimed in and criticized him during the tournament through his social media handle.
Yet, he further expanded on Raza's claims during a conversation with Aajtak. Shami said:
"Does this ball have any device? (laughs while looking at the ball). When I heard this, I wondered 'how can someone ask such a stupid question?'. Even I think about it (that claim) now, I am not able to control my laughter. How can a player know which ball is used? And those talks of a device fitted in the ball and all that...can't believe it."
The 33-year-old added he wanted to do a video about it but avoided the same.
"I am thinking of making a video on it. But I didn't do one because it will create chatter. I thought of taking the ball and breaking it and showing it to people whether there is something different inside or not. Okay, even if we had some special device in the ball, what if we press the wrong button? What if press in-swing instead of out-swing? I didn't expect that someone who played the game at the highest level can speak like this. I don't such things should be said," stated Shami.
Shami finished as the tournament's leading wicket-taker with 24 scalps in seven outings at an average of 10.70, including three five-wicket hauls. He also became India's all-time leading wicket-taker in ODI World Cups with 55 dismissals in only 18 innings.
"You can call it a bad day, the luck was not our side" - Mohammed Shami
Mohammed Shami opened up on India's heartbreaking 2023 World Cup final defeat to Australia and called it a bad day in the office.
Despite dominating the table by winning all 10 games until the grand finale, the Men in Blue came unstuck against the Aussies. After scoring only 240 with the bat, they had Australia 47/3 before Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne's 192-run partnership sealed the deal.
"When we reached the final, we had one mood in the dressing room: 'We are in this together'. No one will be blamed. We were planning to give our best. You can call it a bad day, the luck was not our side. From Day 1, we made it clear that if we win, we win together as a team, if we lose, we lose together as a team," said Shami to Aajtak.
The result meant that Australia triumphed for a sixth time in ODI World Cups, while India continued their ICC title drought since the 2013 Champions Trophy.
Following the tournament, the two teams met in a five-match T20I series that India won 4-1.