WATCH - Did Liam Plunkett scratch the ball with his nails to alter its condition against Pakistan?

England won the match by 12 runs and went 1-0 in the 5-match series.

Ball tampering has been one of the most highlighted ways of gaining an undue advantage in the game of cricket. Bowlers from eons have been accused of doing so but ever since the Cape Town 2018 sandpaper gate happened, the media and the cameras during the matches have become more vigilant of such wrongdoings.

Steve Smith, David Warner, and Cameron Bancroft were banned for 12-months and 9 months respectively for their involvement in altering the condition of the ball using sandpaper during the Australia-South Africa Cape Town Test in 2018.

Memories of that event were refreshed when cameras caught Liam Plunkett doing something to the ball during the second ODI between England and Pakistan in Southampton. The match was a cliff-hanger as Pakistan fell 12 runs short of England’s total of 373 runs which was buoyed by Jos Buttler’s 110* in 55 balls, which triumphed over Fakhar Zaman’s 138 runs in the chase.

During the tense chase, Liam Plunkett was shown scratching the side of the ball, possibly by his nails and further in the video put on Twitter, the condition of the ball is seen in which the side is shredded to pieces.

Here is the video of the Plunkett incident: