Fact Check: Did Ravi Shastri’s wrong toss call lead to India’s defeat against Pakistan

New Delhi, Sep 07: The ongoing Asia Cup is witnessing a tight contest. India has faced back-to-back defeats with Pakistan and Sri Lanka and is facing a risk of being eliminated.

The recent loss to Pakistan in the second encounter various controversies have erupted. During the super edition of the Asia Cup 2022 held on September 4, cricketer turned commentator Ravi Shastri announced the toss. The toss was won by Pakistan following which they elected to bowl first. Pakistan won the match by five wickets.

A video is now viral in which it is claimed that Shastri called the toss wrongly. Indian skipper Rohit Sharma tossed the coin and Pakistan skipper Babar Azam took the call and called it tails. Shastri appears to announce it as heads. Now many on the social media are blaming Shastri for calling the toss wrongly and implied that this led to India's defeat.

OneIndia has learnt that while Shastri did call the toss wrongly, the same was however corrected by the match referee Andy Pycroft on the spot. Hence the outcome of the toss was not affected by the mistake made by Shastri.

The broadcasters of the tournament, Star Sports tweeted about the toss while also sharing a video. Babar can be clearly heard saying tails while Shastri announces it as heads. After the toss, Pycroft announced the outcome as tails and Sharma signals to Azam saying the the latter won the toss.

Hence we can conclude that the claim that India lost the match to Pakistan because of a wrong call by Ravi Shastri is false. The mistake made by Shastri was immediately corrected by the match referee.