Sachin Tendulkar, Faf Du Plessis, Pakistan: Ball-tampering incidents over the years

Ball-tampering continues to be the buzzword doing the rounds in the world of cricket, which now awaits the consequences that Steve Smith and his “leadership group” have to face from Cricket Australia in the wake of the scandal that was caught on camera in Cape Town.

Cameron Bancroft became the fall guy, using a yellow object hidden in his pants to rough up the ball. The ongoing series has seen endless controversies, videos have cropped up of Australia pacer Pat Cummins running his spikes on the ball while the internet were also quick to remind the Australian team of a footage that saw Bancroft pouring sugar in his pocket during the last Ashes series.

There have been innumberable instances of players getting caught for trying to alter the shape of the ball. South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis alone has been guilty of being on the wrong side of the laws of the game twice in the recent past. Here is a list of ball-tampering incidents from recent memory.

England and vaseline

As early as 1977, far away from cameras stalking a player’s every move, England pacer John Lever was accused of rubbing vaseline on the ball against India in Chennai. The left-armer used a vaseline strip to prevent sweat from his forehead dripping into his eyes. No charges werre levelled against Lever. In the 1990s, there were reports flamboyant all-rounder Chris Lewis also dipping his hands into vaseline before applying it on the ball.

The ‘dirty’ trick

Michael Atherton, new to England captaincy at the time, was caught using taking dirt from his pocket to rub the ball at Lord’s against South Africa in 1994. Atherton was fined £2000 for the offence.

Indians not far away

International Cricket Council faced severe wrath from the cricket-mad Indian public in South Africa 2001 when match referee Mike Denness penalised batting legend Sachin Tendulkar for allegedly scruffing the seam. Tendulkar was fined 75 percent of his match fee and handed a ban for a Test.

The acrimony hit fever pitch when a handful of the Indian players were also found culpable of excessive appealing by Denness.

Following public backlash, the ICC reversed the decision and gave a clean chit to Tendulkar, stating that he was “cleaning the ball without the umpire’s permission rather than ball tampering.”

Often seen as one of the more dignified personalities to grace the game in the last three decades, Rahul Dravid was docked 50 percent of his match fee by match referee Clive Lloyd during a win against Zimbabwe in 2004.

Pakistan’s protest

Umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove in 2006 decided that the ball was tampered with against Pakistan during Tea on day four. Inzamam-ul-Haq’s side were also punished with a five-run penalty. In protest, Pakistan refused to come out of their dressing room and the officials were forced to forfeit the game in favour of hosts England.

In 2010, a frustrated Shahid Afridi bit the ball in full view of the cameras and the officials. He was subseqently handed a two-match ban.

Faf du Plessis’s ordeal

South Africa’s facile win at Dubai against Pakistan was marred by Faf du Plessis being handed a fine – 50 percent of his match fee – after television replays showed the player rubbing the ball on the zipper of his trousers. The Proteas then decided not to challenge the charge. Before the Sandpaper gate of 2018 broke out, the previous series featuring South Africa and Australia also ended in acrimonous circumstances.

Du Plessis, this time, was caught shining the ball using mint that he was chewing. Sandwitched between these two incidents featuring the current South African captain was Vernon Philander losing 75 percent of his match fee against Sri Lanka in 2014. The pacer didn’t protest.