Former Pakistan pacer Mohammad Amir has made another contentious remark, stating that the Men in Blue will not be a part of the T20 World Cup 2026 final. Amir had earlier predicted that India would not make their way to the semi-finals given the form of the West Indies.
Amir heaped praise on India’s opening batter Sanju Samson, who led the team to victory in the virtual quarter-final clash against the West Indies, but noted that the Indian batting line-up is still prone to collapses and the bowling is out of form, which would be found out in the next match against England.
“Look, that was my analysis. Sanju Samson played well. But I still believe they are not playing their complete cricket. Apart from (Jasprit) Bumrah, none of their bowlers are in form,” Amir said.
“If you look at their batting, it keeps collapsing. It’s happening in every match. Samson deserves all the credit he gets, even more. The semi-final is coming up, and the match against England will be a good contest. I still believe that India will not play the final,” he added.
Amir made a similar point during his appearance on the Pakistani show Haarna Mana Hai, where he said, “If I analyze it from a cricketing point of view, India are not playing good cricket. Check their fielding. They have dropped at least 3-4 catches and fumbled on the field. Every bowler, except for (Jasprit) Bumrah, has gone for runs. I told you that (Hardik) Pandya never performs against big teams. He went for 40 runs in his 4 overs. West Indies also went after Varun Chakravarthy in the semifinals. I believe that India are still not hot favorites in the tournament.
Shimron Hetmyer was not out, says Amir:
Amir also went on to find fault with the third umpire’s decision to give Shimron Hetmyer out during the match. The former Pakistani pacer said that it was a controversial decision and he believes that Hetmeyer was not out and if he had stayed at the crease, India might have been knocked out of the tournament.
“I feel that Hetmeyer’s dismissal was controversial. I don’t think he was out. If he had stayed there a little longer and the score had reached 220–230, India would have been knocked out today,” Amir said.
Notably, Hetmyer was dismissed in the 12th over of the match on a score of 27 while trying to pull a delivery from Jasprit Bumrah. Hetmeyer was ruled caught out on the field and he referred it to the third umpire. However, the snickometer showed a clear spike when the ball was close to the bat, which meant the third umpire sided with his on-field partner.
