WTC Final 2023: ‘Let me give you evidence’, Ex-Pakistan player accuses Australia of ball tampering

India are still more than 200 runs behind Australia’s 469 in the first innings with 6 wickets down already in the first session of the third day. But amid the excellent situation, the Australian team has been hit by a former Pakistan player with ball-tampering accusations.

Ex-Pakistan player Basit Ali has made serious allegations against the Australian side of ball tampering in the first inning of India on the second day. India lost four quick wickets in the first inning, as their top four struggled to put their mark.

But behind the dismissals, Basit Ali has seen clear ploy from the Australians and believes they tampered the ball and curated those dismissals illegally. Furthermore, he was shocked to see no one batted an eye at the incident and took a dig at umpires and commentators, as well as the Indian batters.

“Firstly, I would clap for those watching the match from commentary box, and the umpires? Australia clearly played with the ball and no one is talking about it. No batter is wondering ‘What is happening?’ The biggest example is batters getting bowled while leaving the ball,” Ali said on his YouTube channel.

“Let me give you the evidence too. Until the 54th over when Shami was bowling, the shine was on the outside and the ball moved back into Steve Smith. This is not called reverse swing. Reverse swing is when the shine is on the inside and the ball comes back in,” Ali added.

Ali also pointed that things started to change after Australia changed the ball. During the 18th over, the ball was changed due to going out of shape, and the Pakistani believes it was due to clear tampering from the Aussies.

“Look at the 16th, 17th and 18th over, the ball on which Virat Kohli got out… look at the shine. Mitchell Starc had the ball in his hand with the shiny end pointing outside but the ball was moving the other way. Jadeja was hitting the ball on the on-side and the ball was flying over point. Have the umpires gone blind? God knows who all are sitting there who can’t see such a simple thing,” he further said.

He also questioned the manner Cheteshwar Pujara got out. Pujara left a ball which came back in and castled his timbers. The former Pakistani says a Dukes ball, which is being used in the WTC Final 2023, can’t reverse before 40 overs.

“Green bowled with the shine pointing towards Pujara and the ball rocketed back in? I am surprised. BCCI is such a big board; can they not see it? It means that you aren’t focussed towards cricket. Does the ball ever reverse swing in 15-20 overs, that too Dukes ball? I understand that a Kookaburra ball can still reverse, but a Dukes ball lasts till 40 overs at least,” he concluded.

The ball-tampering issue is not new with Australia. During a Test match against South Africa in 2018, Australian trio David Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft were caught on TV tampering the ball. Warner and Smith were subsequently banned for 12 months whereas Bancroft also faced a lengthy 9-month ban.