India "Used Vaseline" At Oval: Ex-Pak Star's Ball-Tampering Claims Trashed

Most of the Indian cricket team members are back in the country after a memorable English summer. When it all began, there were a lot of apprehension regarding the young side led by Shubman Gill. For a team without big names like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, returning with a positive result from England, where India haven't won a Test series since 2007, was not fully expected. But the side proved the naysayers wrong by valiantly drawing the five-Test series 2-2, despite trailing 2-1 after the first three Tests.

The final Test of the fifth Test was a cliff hanger. England needed a mere 35 runs to seal the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy while India needed four wickets to draw the series. Indian pace duo Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna bowled their hearts out as India won by six runs - the narrowest victory margin in their Test history.

However, during the fantabulous show, former Pakistan player Shabbir Ahmed Khan (10 Tests, 32 ODIs) accused the Indians of ball-tampering. "I think India used Vaseline. After 80 + over Ball still shine like new Umpire should send this ball to lab for examine," he wrote on X. 

That claim suffered a brutal rebuttal from social media users. One of them even pointed out to the time Shahid Afridi bit the ball during an ODI series in 2010. 

Meanwhile, talking about the 5th India vs England Test, Sachin Tendulkar said he loves Mohammed Siraj's attitude, adding that the fast bowler doesn't get the credit he deserves. On day five of The Oval, Siraj picked a sensational 5-104 as India levelled the five-match series 2-2 with a six-run win over England.

England had no answers to Siraj's accuracy, as he tore through the lower order with a burst of three wickets while conceding only nine runs in 25 balls on the fifth day. Fittingly, Siraj sealed victory for India by knocking over Gus Atkinson's off-stump to enter the rich Indian cricketing folklore.

"Unbelievable. Superb approach. I love his attitude. I love the spring in his legs. For a fast bowler to be constantly in your face like that, no batsman will like it. And the approach he maintained until the end on the last day; I could also hear commentators saying he bowled around 90mph (145kph) on the last day, after having bowled more than 1,000 deliveries in the series. That shows his courage and big heart," said Tendulkar in a video on his Reddit account.

With ANI inputs

Trending News