'Feeling embarrassed': Wasim Akram strongly criticizes toss-fixing allegations against Rohit Sharma!
PC: dnaindia
An angry Wasim Akram has sharply criticized the claims of Sikandar Bakht, who has accused Rohit Sharma of being involved in toss-fixing after India's semi-final win over New Zealand.
Former Pakistani cricketer Bakht has created controversy by accusing Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma. According to Bakht, during the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, Sharma displayed questionable behaviour by deliberately throwing the coin away from the opposing captain during the toss. Bakht suggests that this prevented the opposing captain from confirming the result of the toss, suggesting that this may have been a deliberate strategy to influence the result in India's favour.
Bakht's claims came after India's victory over New Zealand in the Mumbai semi-finals. India won the toss on a batting-friendly pitch and posted an impressive score of 397/4, eventually winning by 70 runs. The former Pakistani fast bowler, who is now 66 and has a remarkable record of 100 wickets in over 50 international matches, expressed his conspiracy theory during a news channel show. He alluded to Sharma's coin-tossing technique and possible collusion between the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), suggesting that it could influence decisions in favour of the Indian team.
In response, Akram flatly rejected Bhakta's claims during an interview with A Sports. The great fast bowler stressed that there are no specific rules regarding where the coin should land and clarified that the mat exists only for sponsorship purposes. Akram also expressed embarrassment over such baseless allegations surfacing.
The 57-year-old said, “Who says where the coin has to land? Who said that he has to throw a coin there? That is for sponsorship, for the show. Go anywhere. I feel embarrassed."
Earlier, Bakht had said, “Can I give you a conspiracy theory? At the time of toss, Rohit Sharma tosses the coin away from the boundary of any opposition captain, thus, the opposition captain cannot cross-check the call.
This is not the first case when a former Pakistani cricketer has made allegations against the Indian team. For example, Hasan Raza accused the ICC of supplying specially designed balls to Indian bowlers who have better swing capabilities.