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Afridi’s bite, Lever’s Vaseline and Younis’s suspension: Ball-tampering allegations that rocked the game
The latest ball-tampering controversy involving Australia’s Cameron Bancroft and Steve Smith has freshened public memory of previous incidences of this act
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John Lever-Vaseline row (1977) | The English pacer was accused of applying Vaseline on the ball to make it swing more against India during the third Test in Chennai. Visitors however said Lever had applied Vaseline-covered gauze on his forehead to divert sweat. No charges were levied against him. (Representative image: Reuters)
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Waqar Younis (2000) | The Pakistani pacer became the first cricketer to be suspended for ball tampering after he was found guilty of the act. He was also fined 50 per cent of his match fee. Younis had worked on the ball’s surface with his fingers against the Proteas during an ODI tri-series in Sri Lanka. (Image: Reuters)
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Tendulkar ‘cleaned the ball’ (2001) | The ‘Master Blaster’ was accused of scuffing the ball’s seam by using his fingers during the second Test against South Africa in 2001 by match referee Mike Denness. Tendulkar, however, maintained his innocence stating he was ‘removing dirt from the ball’. Declaring him ‘not-guilty’, his one-match suspension was revoked by the ICC later. However, ICC said that he did it without the umpires' nod. (Image: Reuters)
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Rahul Dravid’s cough tablet (2004) | Dravid rubbed a cough lozenge tablet on the shiny side of the ball during an ODI against Zimbabwe, in a tri-series in Australia. Match referee Clive Lloyd found Dravid guilty and fined him 50 percent of his match fee. (Image: Reuters)
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The Oval Test (2006) | The Pakistani team was accused of ball tampering by the umpires. After the tea break, the Pakistan team refused to return in protest. The match was awarded to England. Years later, it was categorised by ICC as a ‘draw’ before reversing the decision back to an ‘England win’ in 2009. (Image: Reuters)
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Afridi’s bite (2010) | The Pakistani all-rounder was caught on camera biting the ball during an ODI against Australia in Perth. As a consequence, Afridi was banned from two Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) that were to follow. (Image: Reuters)
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