Ex cricketer Basit Ali accuses Australia of tampering with 'evidence'
India are currently trailing by 318 runs in the WTC final.
Cricket PassionEditor
Posted - 2023-06-09T16:02:08+06:00
Updated - 2023-06-09T16:02:08+06:00
Former cricketer Basit Ali has made serious ball-tampering allegations against the Australian team during the World Test Championship (WTC) final against India.
Former Pakistan international Basit Ali has accused Australia of ball manipulation on day two of the World Test Championship final against India. The 52-year-old pointed out that the Dukes ball doesn't reverse swing for at least 40 overs, but the Pat Cummins-led side were only able to reverse it after 15 overs, giving them the upper hand over Cheteshwar Pujara and others.
Basit raised concerns about the ball's unusual movement and the positioning of its shine, particularly during the second day's Indian batting order override.
Notably, Pujara was outwitted with a brilliant performance while Kohli had no answer to Mitchell Starc's vicious ejection. Meanwhile, Basit criticized the umpires and commentators for failing to decipher Australia's ball-manipulation technique, eventually explaining the whole mechanism.
“First of all, I would like to applaud those watching the game from the comment box and the referees. Clearly Australia played with the ball and nobody talks about it. No batsman wonders, "What's going on?" The biggest example is batsmen being bowled while leaving the ball.
“Look at the 16th, 17th and 18th over, the ball where Virat Kohli came out… look at the shine. Mitchell Starc had the ball in his hand shiny side out, but the ball went the other way. Jadeja hit the ball on the outside and the ball flew over the point. Are the umpires blind? God knows who's sitting there who can't see something so simple," he added.
Meanwhile, Australia reigns supreme after Day 2 of the WTC Finals. Thanks to phenomenal Centurys from Travis Head and Steve Smith, the Kangaroos racked up 469 runs in the first innings while their bowlers were brilliant, too. India are now at 151/5 and need a mighty comeback to put any pressure on Australia on Day 3.