Right after the unimpressive inning from the Indian team in the WTC 2023 Final, a rumour regarding BALL TAMPERING went viral on social media. World Test Championship 2023 final is scheduled to play from June 7 to 11 in Kennington Oval, London between India and Australia.
Pat Cummins’ Australia Accused Of Ball-Tempering During WTC Final
Overcast conditions and a hint of green on the wicket persuaded India to bowl first after winning the toss, and the strategy seemed sensible given the selection of a fourth fast bowler instead of the world’s top-ranked Test bowler – spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
With Australia 76/3 at one stage it looked as if India’s selection could be the right one. But an unbroken 251-run stand between Head and Smith helped Australia to 469 at the close, leaving India on the back foot in the game.
Earlier, Bowling coach Paras Mhambrey backs Indian bowlers after an unimpressive first day in WTC 2023 final and explains the reason for the exclusion of Ashwin from the playing 11.
While on the other hand, the Australian bowling attack came out strong, reducing India to 151-5 by stumps on day two. Pat Cummins drew first blood by removing Rohit Sharma, while Scott Boland and Cameron Green showcased their skills to dismiss Shubman Gill and Chiteshwar Pujara, respectively.
The left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc generated extra bounce to dismiss Virat Kohli for 14 runs while Lyon dismissed Jadeja for 48 runs. At the end of Day 2, India scored 151 runs for 5 wickets loss.
Meanwhile, former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali has made a shocking comment on Indian batters’ dismissals and accused Pat Cummins-led Australia of ball-tampering. Notably, Basit did not present any evidence for the Ball Tampering incident but he came up with a theory of his own.
Starc’s cross-seam delivery kicked off the surface with some extra bounce and took Virat Kohli by surprise.
- Average bounce for deliveries 9-9.5m: 1.11m
- Starc’s dismissal ball to Kohli(9.19m): 1.54m
Notably, the ball was changed in the 18th over of the innings and in the 19th over Virat Kohli got dismissed.
“No batter talked about what’s happening with the ball. The biggest example is two batters got out while leaving the ball. I know that usually there is no evidence, but I’ll give you one today. During the 73rd or 74th over, the shiny part of the ball was outside and Smith was batting as the ball came in.
The right-handed batter further added that the ball by Mitchell Starc to dismiss Virat Kohli had the shiny part on the outside, yet it swung in, contrary to expectations.
In England, when the shiny part is on the outside, the ball comes back in. It’s not called reverse swing. Reverse swing is when the shine is inside and the ball also comes back in. If you look at the ball by Mitchell Starc that got Kohli, the shiny part was outside.
The ball went in with the shine. The batters were trying to hit it on the offside, but the ball went on the on side,” Basit told in his Youtube channel.
Ball tampering by Australia against India?
Basit Ali says Australia did ball tampering against India to dismiss Shubman Gill, Pujara and Kohli. He also says they had tampered the ball even when Jadeja was batting out there. #WTCFinal #WTCFinal2023
Video Credits: Basit Ali YT pic.twitter.com/refFZC2cRz
— Farid Khan (@_FaridKhan) June 8, 2023
Basit went on to slam the on-field umpires and BCCI for not detecting a clear case of ball-tampering.
“The umpires went blind. India is not my team, but I watch the sport with my spectacles on. They clearly tampered with the ball. Even Cameron Green’s wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara, the shine was inside. I’m stunned no one saw it. BCCI is said to be the biggest board in the world, how can they not see it?”
Ajinkya Rahane and KS Bharat will resume the inning on Day 3 and need to build a partnership to push India’s total towards a safer side.
