India raced past Sri Lanka by 302 runs in match 33 of the ODI World Cup, on Thursday (Nov 2) in Mumbai to book a place in the semi-finals. Being asked to bat first, India rode on Shubman Gill’s 92, Virat Kohli’s 88 and Shreyas Iyer’s 82 to post a mammoth 357 for 8. In reply, Sri Lanka were bundled out for 55 as Mohammed Shami (5 for 18) and Mohammed Siraj (3 for 16) wreaked havoc with the ball.

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The swing and seam rattled the Sri Lankan batters as India pacers made light work of the Islanders at a jam-packed Wankhede Stadium. However, their brilliant bowling display wasn’t well received by former Pakistani player Hasan Raza, who feels the International Cricket Council (ICC) is helping India by giving them a different set of balls.

“The balls given to Indian bowlers should be checked. They are getting more swing and seam. Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj are bowling like Allan Donald and Makhaya Ntini. Even Mathews was surprised to see the amount of swing Shami’s ball got in Mumbai. Either ICC is helping them, or BCCI is coming to help their bowlers. There could be an involvement of the third umpire as well,” Hasan said while speaking on a Pakistani TV show.

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Now, former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has reacted to Hasan’s absurd claims. “Is it a serious cricket show? If not, please mention ‘satire’ ‘comedy’ in English somewhere. It might be written in Urdu already but unfortunately, I can’t read/understand it,” Chopra tweeted.

After India’s resounding win over the Lankans, they became the first side in the ten-team tournament to qualify for the semi-finals. The home side have won all their seven games and are sitting pretty at the top spot in the points table, with two more games left to play.

Rohit Sharma-led India will now focus on their next outing, where they play second-positioned South Africa at the iconic Eden Gardens in match 37 of the showpiece event. The game will be held on Sunday (Nov 5).

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