Siraj, Prasidh Krishna accused of ball tampering; ICC advised to send ball used by India for ‘lab examination’

Shabbir Ahmed urged the ICC to examine the ball used by India in the fifth Test. He felt Siraj and Prasidh Krishna applied Vaseline to make it shine.

Former Pakistan pacer Shabbir Ahmed accused India of ball tampering in the fifth and final Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against England at The Oval. Ahmed, in fact, urged the ICC umpires to send the ball used by India in Days 4 and 5 of the series finale for a ‘lab examination’. Ahmed's reaction came after India registered their narrowest Test win by six runs to level the five-match series 2-2.

India's Mohammed Siraj, right, talks with Prasidh Krishna (AP)

Mohammed Siraj got a nearly 80-over-old ball swinging both ways on Day 5 of the India vs England fifth Test. So did Prasidh Krishna. Maybe not as much as Siraj did but he, too, got the ball to zip around. So much so that India captain Shubman Gill did not even think of taking the second new ball, even when India were in need of the last three England wickets with less than 30 runs to play with. And it bore rich dividends.

Siraj kept swinging the ball away from the right-handers and mixed it up with fuller length in-coming deliveries to leave the England tail in tatters. First, he dismissed England's last recognised batter, Jamie Smith, with an outwinger and then got one to dart back in sharply to Jamie Overton, the other overnight batter, to trap him lbw.

After taking a couple of early wickets, Siraj and Prasidh really applied the brakes on England. Krishna nearly got the wicket of Josh Tongue but the decision was overturned by DRS. Krishna, however, bowled a cracker of a delivery to rattle the stumps of Tongue soon after. In between, both Siraj and Prasidh Krishna produced a number of wicket-taking deliveries on a pitch that offered a lot to the seamers right throughout the Test match, no matter how old the ball was.

Despite all the pitch and the overcast conditions, credit must be given to the Indian seamers who gave it their all to make the ball talk and get the last seven England wickets for just 66 runs.

India accused of ball tampering in fifth Test against England

Pakistan's former pacer Shabbir Ahmed, however, was not ready to doff his hat to the skill of the Indian pacers. He, instead, accused them of using 'Vaseline' to maintain the shine of the ball even when it got old. The former lanky right-arm medium pacer, who played 10 Tests and 3 ODIs for Pakistan, completely ignored the pitch, the overcast conditions and above all, the craft of Siraj and Krishna.

"I think India used Vaseline. After 80 + over ball still shine like new. Umpire should send this ball to the lab for examination," he wrote on X.

This was not the first time a former Pakistan pacer accused India of tampering with the ball's conditions. During the 2023 ODI World Cup, when Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, and Siraj got the new ball to swing considerably more than any other new ball bowler in the tournament, former Pakistan cricketer Hasan Raza said the ICC was giving India a "different ball."

This was not the end of it. During the T20 World Cup in 2024, which India won, former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq accused India pacer Arshdeep Singh of ball-tampering. Mohammed Shami gave him a fitting reply.