In the first semi-final between India and New Zealand, former Pakistan cricketer Sikander Bakht said that Indian captain Rohit Sharma deliberately threw the coin far away to prevent Kane Williamson from seeing the outcome of the toss.
Since the coin had landed a few meters distant, Kane Williamson had relied on the match referee’s word on the toss in the marquee clash at the iconic Wankhede Stadium. The match referee quickly announced that India had won the toss.
After deciding to bat first, India put up a solid 397-8 total, to restrict the opposition and win the game by 70 runs and qualify for the fourth ODI World Cup finals.
In an interview with a regional television network, Sikander Bakht stated that Indian skipper Rohit Sharma always threw the coin in this way while he was in charge of 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,” Sikander Bakht said.
According to a recent Fox Cricket story, there were issues inside the New Zealand team regarding Rohit Sharma’s coin tosses during the marquee clash in Mumbai and it is reported that the information came from within the team.
Earlier, media reports that arose before the match said that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was pressuring the International Cricket Council (ICC) to host the semi-final on a modified pitch instead of a newly constructed one.
A report that the Wankhede track had been altered and accused the BCCI of breaking the agreement with ICC just before the semi-final matchup with the New Zealanders. The original plan for the pitch for Wednesday’s game was to use No. 7, a brand-new, unutilized surface. However, No. 6 was ultimately chosen instead for the highly-anticipated game.
It was also reported that concerns existed around the possibility of arbitrary changes being made to the Ahmedabad final surface. It is said that pitch No. 6 would be used for the final of the tournament, which could assist spinners more than pitch No. 5, which was recommended by ICC consultant Andy Atkinson.
The Men in Blue has been the dominant side in the ongoing ODI World Cup, winning 10 out of their 10 games giving no real chance to the opponents in the marquee event and the Rohit Sharma-led side would be keen to go one step up further to win the championship beating the five-time champions Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
