Courtesy: Instagram
Prior to the start of the fourth match between Quetta Gladiators and Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2025, the coin was flipped in the air, but after the formalities were completed, a video has gone viral on Instagram alleging toss fixing. While Lahore Qalandars went on to defeat Quetta Gladiators by a big margin of 79 runs after posting a 219/6 total on the back of fifties from Fakhar Zaman and Sam Billings apart from exceptional bowling from Rishad Hossain and Shaheen Afridi, the allegations continued to gather steam on social media.
Notably, before the PSL 2025 match began, Shaheen Afridi, the captain of Lahore Qalandars, gave the coin a spin, and his opposing counterpart Saud Shakeel from Quetta Gladiators made the call for heads. Once the coin came down, the match referee proceeded to pick it up while confirming the toss winner, but there, the controversy was alleged on social media because the match referee’s frame didn’t allow the camera at the front and up in the air to record whether the coin landed as a head or a tail.
While the Instagram user Guru Tips (@GurujiTips2) alleged that the match referee had flipped the coin from tail to head, there was no conclusive evidence to suggest so. But at the same time, when the match referee stated that the coin landed as a head, Shaheen Afridi said that it might have been tails with a huge grin on his face, and to that, the match referee pointed out that he can check it, which led to Saud Shakeel remarking that they believe in the official.
Watch the video here:
Fans must take allegations of toss fixing in cricket with a pinch of salt
Over the years, there have been a few instances of controversy around coin toss in the game of cricket, both at the franchise and international level, but there hasn’t been any proof of any fixing alleged above. With that, the fans should take these allegations with a pinch of salt rather than believing in anyone on social media especially since the name of the game online is to generate views by hook or crook.
Moreover, Lahore Qalandars, led by Shaheen Afridi, have moved to the top of the PSL 2025 points on the basis of a superior net run rate (NRR) in comparison to three other teams with the same number of points just like them.
