Ravindra Jadeja was in top form during the first Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023, picking up seven wickets across the two innings and scoring a crucial 185-ball 70 at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur. The match referee fined Jadeja 25% of his match fee for breaching Level 1 of the Code of Conduct for applying ointment on his sore index finger without informing the umpires before doing so. This isn’t the first time an Indian cricketer has been accused of ball tampering. Let’s look at three other similar incidents:
3) Virat Kohli
During India’s first Test against England at Rajkot in 2016, Virat Kohli was accused of ball tampering following a report from a British tabloid. The report claimed that the Indian skipper had used residue from a sweet he had in his mouth to shine the ball. Despite this, the England side refrained from complaining and thus, the controversy died down without any sanctions for Kohli as per ICC rules.
2) Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid, one of the most respected and acclaimed names in world cricket, had an unblemished career until his ball tampering episode occurred in 2004. During an ODI match against Zimbabwe at the Gabba in Brisbane, he was believed to have shone the ball with a cough lozenge from his mouth. Despite the Indian team coach John Wright and Sourav Ganguly trying to explain that it was a mistake on the player’s part and Dravid had only been attempting to shine the ball using saliva, match referee Clive Lloyd still imposed a 50% penalty on Dravid’s match fee for being guilty of the offense.
1) Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar, one of cricket’s greats, was involved in a controversial incident during a 2001 Test Series against South Africa. Match referee Mike Denness issued bans to several Indian players for alleged ball tampering, with Sachin at the center of it all. According to Sachin’s autobiography, Playing it My Way, he had merely cleaned the seam of the ball, which had grass on it and was taken aback by Denness’s questioning of his integrity. A huge controversy emerged, resulting in the BCCI and the South African cricket board deciding to proceed with the 3rd Test without Denness as the match referee. This action made the ICC declare it an ‘Unofficial’ game.
