India pulled off a thrilling six-run win against England in the final Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at The Oval, levelling the series 2-2. However, the post-match celebrations were somewhat overshadowed by serious allegations made by former Pakistan cricketer Shabbir Ahmed Khan, who accused India of tampering with the ball during the tense encounter.
Shabbir Ahmed Alleges Ball Tampering with Vaseline Use
Shabbir claimed that the Indian team may have used Vaseline on the ball to enhance its swing. He pointed out that despite the ball being over 80 overs old, it still appeared “unusually shiny.” He urged officials to send the ball to a lab for forensic testing.
“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔. 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒚,” 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒊𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅.
Siraj, Krishna Power India to Series-Evening Victory
On the final day, England required just 35 runs to win with four wickets in hand, while India needed to dismiss the remaining batters. The English duo of Jamie Smith and Jamie Overton gave the hosts early hope, with Overton smashing back-to-back boundaries to bring the target down to 27. But Mohammed Siraj broke through, removing Smith with an outswinger and trapping Overton lbw shortly after.
Despite having access to a new ball, Indian captain Rohit Sharma stuck with the older one that was swinging sharply. The gamble paid off. Prasidh Krishna bowled a cunning delivery to dismiss Josh Tongue, leaving England nine down. Gus Atkinson, showing resilience, struck a six and partnered with Chris Woakes, who batted with one arm in a sling, to bring the equation down to just seven runs.
However, Siraj sealed the victory by cleaning up Atkinson with a perfect yorker in the 86th over, handing India a memorable win and levelling the five-match series.
“𝑾𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈,” 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒋 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉.
Siraj finished with a stunning nine wickets in the match and topped the bowling charts for the series with 23 scalps.
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