After an injury layoff of five months, Ravindra Jadeja made a successful comeback to
international cricket by taking his 11th Test five-wicket haul, and 4th against Australia, in the
first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Nagpur.
Following the completion of the day’s play in Nagpur, however, was marked by a small
controversy in which Jadeja was called up by the match referee Andy Pycroft to explain his
action of putting something on the ball that was caught in a video and had gone viral on social
media.
Former Australia captain Tim Paine even felt something suspicious here, and many Australian
fans alleged Jadeja of tampering with the ball.
In the video footage, the spinner was seen taking a substance off the back of Mohammed Siraj’s
palm and then he rubbed this substance on to the index finger of his left hand, his bowling arm.
At no point in the footage was Jadeja seen rubbing anything on the ball directly but he did have
the ball in his hands at that time.
Ravindra Jadeja explained he was applying pain-relief ointment
According to a report in ESPNcricinfo, immediately after the conclusion of play on Day 1 in
Nagpur, Jadeja along with India skipper Rohit Sharma and the team manager, were called up by
the match referee Andy Pycroft and were shown a video clip of Jadeja’s actions. Pycroft, it is
understood, wanted to just inform them about the incident.
There the all-rounder explained that he was only applying pain-relief cream on his fingers. No
charge has been laid against Jadeja.
Under the Laws of Cricket, the bowler needs the umpire’s permission to apply any sort of
substance on their hands to ensure the condition of the ball remains unaffected.
India on top with Rohit’s fifty after Ravindra Jadeja’s 5-for Jadeja’s five-for included the wickets of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith after the pair had forged a partnership of 82 (202) as he completed his spectacular return with figures of 22-8-47-5.
In reply, in their first innings, India were 77/1 at stumps on Day 1, with skipper Rohit Sharma
blasting a brisk unbeaten half-century, which came up in 66 balls, while KL Rahul got out for 20
in the penultimate over of the day.
