Rory Burns and pacer Mark Wood were seen passing the ball with their shoes. Rory Burns, who was wearing a shoe with spikes, was seen stepping onto the ball. The England team caused a flutter when two of its players tried playing a bit of “football” with the red cherry during the post-lunch session on the fourth day of the second Test at Lords.
Footage from the official broadcasters emerged where one England player passed the ball to another, who used his spikes to trap it, raising a social media storm as accusations of ball-tampering flew thick and fast. England’s opener Rory Burns and speedster Mark Wood were passing the ball to each other using their shoes.
Rory Burns Seen Stepping Onto The Ball Which Ignited Ball-Tampering Controversy
Replays showed an English player stopping the ball with his spikes after the first one had kicked it with his shoe. The incident created quite an uproar among cricket fans on Twitter. However, Indian batting coach Vikram Rathour felt it was “not deliberate”.
“We saw it much later but I don’t think it was deliberate,” Rathour said at the post-day press conference.
The Indian team hasn’t lodged an official complaint with match referee Chris Broad. The incident was recorded in the 35th over of the Indian second innings, bowled by Ollie Robinson.
The footage didn’t show the face of the players although some reports claim it’s none other than Mark Wood and Rory Burns. The matter did not escalate and the umpires didn’t change the ball.
In fact, when an Indian fan asked Stuart Broad on social media if it was intentional, the injured England seamer replied: “Of course, it wasn’t.”
Stuart Broad explained that if the umpires needed to check the ball after the particular incident to ensure it hasn’t been fiddled with, then every six would warrant a ball check. Former South Africa pacer Shaun Pollock, who was commenting at that time, also expressed disapproval regarding the incident after which the ‘Voice of Indian cricket’ Harsha Bhogle also condemned it.
Cheteshwar Pujara And Ajinkya Rahane Found Form As The Duo Stitched A 100 Run Partnership For The 4th Wicket
On Day 4, India was in deep trouble after losing in-form openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma in the space of two overs. Virat Kohli, India’s captain, left with only 20 runs on the board. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, who has been chastised for their poor batsmanship for a long time, put on a critical century partnership to take India from 55/3 to 155.
However, Mark Wood struck again and dismissed Cheteshwar Pujara for 45 runs. Minutes later, Moeen Ali removed Ajinkya Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja to help England finish the day on top. Earlier in the match, England pacer Mark Wood dismissed India opening batters Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul while Sam Curran sent Virat Kohli back to the pavilion as the visitors were put on the back foot in the opening session on Day 4.