SA vs AUS 2018: The entire team involved in ball tampering controversy is dangerous, says Kapil Dev

Tim Paine will lead Australia in the final Test at Johannesburg.

The trio has been asked to return home by Cricket Australia Chief. (AFP)

The Australian team has tarnished the image of its cricketing legacy, after skipper Steve Smith and teammate Cameron Bancroft was involved in a ball-tampering controversy in the third Test match in Cape Town. As it turned out they lost the match by 322 runs and were subjected to a lost of embarrassment post the end of the Test match. 

Meanwhile Cricket Australia Chief, James Sutherland has officially stated in a media conference that Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft will take no further part in the Test series and have named their replacements as well. 

Former Indian skipper Kapil Dev has joined the debate meanwhile and has said that if an entire team is involved in a controversy, its a real matter of disrespect for the team and their loyal fans. 

"I can understand if a player is caught tampering the ball and he get sanctions from the world governing body. But if the whole team is behind tampering the ball, it's a dangerous precedent. Something unheard of," Kapil Dev told TOI while reacting to Australia's recent ball tampering issue that has rocked cricket.

Kapil also said that Australian captain Steven Smith didn't set a good example for the game. "As a captain, you have to set examples. If you are not able to do so, it's going to be bad for the game in the long run,"

Regarding the quantum of punishment which Steve Smith and his teammates will be charged with post the investigation, Kapil Dev said that he is not the right person to keep an opinion on that.  "It's not my job to decide the punishment. There are authorities to decide that and if I am not mistaken, they have already given a one-match ban for Smith. But as a former player I would love to see cricket played in the right spirit," the 1983 World Cup winning captain and an exponent of out-swing bowling said.

Asked if he ever tried to tamper the ball in his playing days, Kapil Dev was very direct with his answer as he said no. "No, I never did ball tampering," said the former Indian skipper. 

He said that he believed in nursing the ball and didn't know the skills needed to do so. "We didn't know how to tamper the ball during our time. It was the Pakistani fast bowlers who did ball tampering to get reverse swing by carrying bottle caps and all. Those days there wasn't any rule to define ball tampering as well. But coming back to the ball tampering issue today, it's never easy to understand the reason behind the entire team being involved in ball tampering in this incident. It's intriguing," he concluded. 
 

 
 

By Anshuman Roy - 28 Mar, 2018

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