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Former Pakistan player Basit Ali has made strong accusations against Australia bowlers of tampering the ball in the ongoing World Test Championship 2023. He has said that the Aussie bowlers tampered with the ball to dismiss Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara on the second day of the ongoing WTC Final 2023 at The Oval, London. According to Ali, Australians ‘made the ball’ around the 15th over to send back Kohli and Pujara during the final session of second day’s play.
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Ali, who appeared in 19 Tests and 50 ODIs for Men in Green, said that he was shell-shocked to see that nobody noticed what tactics did Aussies use at The Oval, including the commentators, officials, and even the Indian batters. In a video on his YouTube channel, he said, “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. 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.”
Watch the video here:
He added that during the 16th to 18th overs of the Indian innings, there were several evidence of ball tampering. During the 18th over, the ball was changed after the umpire Richard Kettleborough instructed to do so after it went out of shape. He reckoned that it was when the ball arrived that things started happening for Australia. He added, “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.”
Notably, the Aussies continued their dominance by the end of the second day as the Kangaroos posted a massive 469 score by the end of the first innings. By the end, India were at 151/5 with Ajinkya Rahane (29*) and KS Bharat (5*) batting for the Rohit Sharma-led side.