What on earth will be more embarrassing for the cricket loving nation than this? Shahid Afridi has been caught by TV camera suspect as tampering the ball by biting it with his teeth in the dramatic fifth and final ODI at the WACA Ground in Perth. Television cameras caught the captain taking two vigorous bites along the seam of the ball at the end of the 40th over. The ball was immediately examined by the umpires and replaced. One of the more bizarre incidents to have been witnessed in international cricket which no one wants to watch again.
As a consequence of this Shahid Afridi has been banned for two T20 matches. Afridi apologized for his actions last night claiming they were borne out of frustration. The desperation to win the match by hook or crook was evident from his behavior showing that the moral of the team is at lowest level now. Though the shameful act did not justify it. Just for a second thought it might be intentional as to keep his record of being the most successful T20 skipper for Pakistan team unharmed.
Whatever the reason may be, desperation to win or for the sake of records, his act is a sheer disappointment for his fans as well as the nation. Wake up PCB!
Image: Perthnow
I would like to add to the list given above by Sir Hend.
Salim Malik for match fixing
Any comments? objections?
@Buddha Hend: As expected, you didn’t answer my question.
Yoo shoo
scratching ball is tampering and that what waqar and akram did. cleaning dirt from ball is not tampering and that is why anderson was not punished. all videos are available on youtube. i have seen live telecast too.
but you in your depression are just blabbering on half knowledge of cricket. now go back to being depressed.
@ Hend
I wouldn’t go to the extent of saying, “All Pakistani bowlers…have done it in the past”. However, when you mentioned corruption and match-fixing, a brilliant thought struck me.
I’m wondering, now that a Paki player has been blatantly caught red-handed tampering the ball, Pak is talking about lagalising ball tampering. Going by that logic, maybe it it time to legalise drugs in cricket. Maybe it also time to legalise damaging the pitch to assist your bowlers. And maybe its time to legalise beating up spectators.
So lets have a new set of rules…lets call it, PAK RULES (those 2 words alone sound awful, don’t they guys?)
Rule 1:
Any player is allowed to consume performance enhancing drugs before or during a match. This includes, during any drinks break, during the innings break or while lazing around on the out-field pretending to field.
CLAUSE: Only players guaranteed of a spot in the playing 11 are allowed to benefit from this rule.
Rule 2:
After 30 overs and once spin has been introduced, any fielder is allowed to scrape the surface of the pitch with his shoes, nails or crotch. Biting off chunks of the pitch is also acceptable.
CLAUSE: At any given point of time, not more than 10 players are allowed to engaged in damaging the pitch. Also, players engaged in biting off chunks of the pitch need to take care and not bite the shoes of other fielders, batsmen or umpires. Biting your own shoes is permitted.
Rule 3:
After the 35th over, tampering of the ball using natural and artificial means is permitted. This includes the use of nails, crown caps, chain-saws, hammers and screw-drivers. Needless to say, biting the ball is accepetable and encouraged.
CLAUSE: Players indulging in biting the ball need to make sure that it sufficently dirty and if not then it needs to be rubbed on the crotch of all the other 10 fielders, the 2 batsmen and the 2 umpires. If required, the 12th man from the fielding team, the 3rd umpire and the match refree may also offer their crotches to the fielder interested in biting the ball.
Rule 4:
After being given out, the batsman may feel free to whip-up any number of spectators, on their way back to the pavillion.
CLAUSE: As a special consideration for Pak batsmen, they are also allowed to beat up spectators while on their way to the pitch or during the innings, as and when they feel like.
P.S.: The PCB has been ordered to implement the above practices at the domestic level and ensure that these practices become a part of the PAK CRICKET CULTURE and are treated as STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
Are both of you in some kind of a competition to see who can turn out to be a bigger retard?
@Maddie: Were you getting drunk when you mentioned that Pakistani players are calling for the legalization of ball tampering when there are foreign cricketers who are calling for the same? Get you’re head examined.
@ Buddha Hend: Is scratching the ball with nails not ball tampering? LOL.
Mahdi
By now you would have realised that the problem here not how to wake up a sleeping man, it is how to wake up someone who does not want to wake up.
Raja has quite simply, exposed Pakistan cricket by saying EXACTLY the same thing which I said. Ball tampering is systemic in Pakistan.
The continuing arguing on the point that Hadlee or Donald called for legalization of ball tampering is misrepresenting what they actually said. They are not in support of scratching ball with bottle caps, biting it or damaging it as in Oval 2006.
The allowance given in the cricket rules to rub the ball on clothes in order to retain the shine on it, is sought to be over extended ridiculously by people who argue for ball tampering and who want to do ridiculous things to the ball.
This completely ignores the thousands of cricketers and other sportsmen who played their sport honestly and within the limits of the rules.
It seeks to glorify those cheats who manipulated the rules and took unfair advantage to make thier careers. All Pakistani bowlers no matter how great they are considered within their own country have done it in the past and ‘become’ on such practices. They have had no genuine honest bowler because such an entity does not exist there.
I think even the sportsmen who take steroids can argue that everyone does it and it is an art form etc. There is no limit to what extent you can go and start bending the rules in every sport.
Finally, sports are meant to be sports and meant to be played within certain accepted norms. If you are inclined to find loop holes and justify unfair advantages and then beg for their legalization then that is not sports.
Why not legalize corruption?
Why not legalize match fixing?
Ah look, there’s my favourite pet Yusha!!!!
Buddy, while you were asleep one of your compatriot admitted that Pakis tamper the ball and it is a part of their culture…did you read???
And btw, in the article that you have mentioned in your ‘expert’ comment, Allan Donald has a 4-word statement to make,
“I wouldn’t bite it”
Just to make it clear, he’s referring to the ball….cricket ball!!!
It was Richard Hadlee who first wanted to legalize ball-tampering and the latest case is that of Allan Donald. I don’t know how many foreign cricketers have called for the legalization of ball tampering in between. Click here to read the story.
Of course Pakistani players are not the only ones who can swing the ball. The point is that they invented the art. At the time when it did not exist, anyone who could reverse swing, namely the Pakistani players, were automatically labelled ball-tamperers.
Instead of telling others to shut-up, it would be better if you shut up and end this discussion.
@ Hina
I find it weird that 2 weeks ago, no one spoke about ball tampering and it was considered as an offence (which obviously it is).
And now when one of Pak’s star players has been blatantly caught red-handed, we suddenly have the player himself (Afridi) and Ramiz Raja talking about legalising ball tampering and saying that it not a heinous crime. Why did Ramiz Raja and Shahid Afridi not talk about legalsing ball tampering all these years??
Now when Afridi has been caught red-handed they want to legalise the offence that they have been wrongly practising as part of their culture and as a ‘standard operating procedure’.
Pak players aren’t the only ones in the world who can reverse swing the ball. Reverse swing is an art, ball tampering is a offence. You don’t have to tamper the ball to achieve reverse swing. An old untampered ball can also achieve reverse swing. And as Ramiz Raja has described, the conditionn of the ball is not the only thing that can control the swing. Imran Khan and Wasim Akram were known to achieve reverse swing without ball tampering. It’s a shame that others who followed them couldn’t master the art and therefore have resorted to other means.
The answer to my question of why the Pak team is most talked about for ball tampering has nothing to do with the art of reverse swing. It is, as Mr Ramiz Raja described, a part of the culture of Pak cricket and considered normal. It might not be a heinous crime if you are a Pak cricketer but for the rest of the countries who play by the rules, it is an offence.
As I have said in my earlier comments (albeit on another article), when you are caught such blatantly, the sensible thing to do is accept it and shut-up. Full credit to Afridi for accepting it (not that he had any choice) but he and others (e.g. Ramiz Raja) could have avoided making a joke of themselves by not making statements like “All countries do this” and “ball-tampering must be legalised”.
Pakistanis complain that they are singled out most for ball tampering? Well guess what, now that Ramiz Raja has accepted that it is a part of your culture and considered normal, the Pak players will be under the scanner all the more.