The infamous ball-tampering act that has rocked the entire cricketing world in 2018 had created a sensation in the ongoing second Test between India and England with the players’ act raising doubts on ball-tampering.
Pictures of an England player pressing the ball with the spikes of his boots were viral. However, the identity of the player was not revealed as the camera was zoomed to the players’ legs.
These pictures caught everyones’ attention with former Indian batsman Virender Sehwag sharing the pictures on his Twitter. While sharing the pictures, Sehwag asked if that was ball tampering or a Covid preventive measure.
“Yeh kya ho raha hai. Is it ball tampering by Eng ya covid preventive measures,” said Sehwag in his tweet. He had attached a picture that shows an England player pressing the ball with his spikes.
In the viral videos and pictures that went viral on social media, two England players can be seen hitting the ball and stamping it with the spikes on the boots. The incident took place during India’s second innings after lunch.
The actions of the bowlers have raised several questions on alleged ball-tampering. Netizens even asked if the actions of the England players were intentional and sought the response of the England board in this issue.
Amid the controversy, England speedster Stuart Broad, who missed the Test match owing to his injury, jumped in defense of the England players and called the actions of the players not intentional.
Stuart Broad had replied to a tweet of a netizen who asked him to respond to the issue. The speedster called the actions of the players to kick the ball an accident and urged everyone to see the whole footage rather than taking the screenshot of the pic.
“My comments are- Woody tried to nut meg Burnsy by tapping the ball through his legs (a very common occurrence) & he missed and kicked the ball there by accident. Instead of screenshotting the pic, watch the video- quite plain & easy to see,” the speedster said in a reply.
India has managed to put up a score of 181 after losing six wickets, taking a lead of 154. Team India had a rough start to the game by losing three wickets for 55. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane added 100 runs to the score before losing their wickets.
Rishabh Pant and Ishant Sharma remained unbeaten at the personal score of 14 and 4 respectively.
