T20 World Cup: India captain Rohit Sharma has scoffed off allegations of ball tampering against his team by former Pakistan captain Inzamam-Ul Haq and said the prevailing conditions helped his bowler reverse swing the ball against Australia in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.Inzamam expressed surprise in Indian pacer Arshdeep Singh getting the ball to reverse swing in the 15th over of the match against Australia and opined that the Indians have tampered with the ball.
“Arshdeep Singh, when he was bowling the 15th over, the ball was reversing. Is it too early (for reverse swing) with the new ball? This means the ball was ready for reverse swing by the 12th or the 13th over. Umpires should keep their eyes open (to spot) these things…If it was Pakistani bowlers (reverse swinging the ball) this would have been a big issue. We know reverse swing very well and if Arshdeep can come in the 15th over and start reversing the ball, it means some serious work had been done before,” Inzamam said on Pakistani news channel 24 News.
During the pre-match press conference ahead of the second semifinal, when Rohit Sharma’s reaction was sought to Inzamam’s allegations that the Indians have “worked on the ball”, the Indian captain said the weather conditions during the T20 World Cup are such that reverse swing was natural.
“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. It’s important to understand what conditions you’re playing in. The match is not taking place in England or Australia. That’s what I’ll say,” said Rohit Sharma, dismissing the former Pakistan captain’s allegations.
India will be playing defending champion England in a repeat of the 2022 T20 World Cup semifinal at the Guyana National Stadium in Providence here on Thursday.
With the threat of rain looming in the match, Rohit was asked how the Indian team planned for a rain-curtailed match, he said they will adapt to the situation when it arises.
“Look I think we didn’t come here thinking that it is going to be a 40-over game. We don’t want to think it’s going to be a shortened game. But if it does, we will change whatever we need to change in terms of strategy, combinations, or whatever it is. Whatever we think is possibly the best chance for us to win the game,” he said.
“So, we will be prepared for all kinds of scenarios. It’s not like it’s not happened before. It has happened before as well. In the last T20 World Cup, there was a shortened game as well against Bangladesh. So, all those things happen and we will come tomorrow here and see what the scenario is. But ideally, for everyone, it’ll be nice to have a 40-over game. But again, we’ll be ready to adapt to whatever is there in front of us,” said Rohit Sharma.