As an exciting passage of play was going on at Lord’s where the 4th day of the second Test between England and India is taking place, some keen eyes caught a couple of England players were seen stepping on the ball and scuffing it using the spikes under their boots.
In a video circulated on social media, cameras caught England pacer Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood using the spikes under their bowling boots to scuff up the ball during the 35th over of the Indian second innings.
The spikes in bowlers’ shoes are quite dangerous and can do a lot of damage to the ball and help the bowlers get something out of a dead pitch, as Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara blunted the home team’s bowling attack.
The conditions, since Day three, have been absolutely brilliant to bat at the Home of Cricket and there hasn’t been any kind of help in the air or off the pitch. The Indian bowlers were at the receiving end of a Joe Root masterclass as they didn’t find much swing.
The pictures which have gone viral on social media might seek the attention of the umpires after the end of the day’s play as well. The video and the photos show as many as three times, the ball could be seen under the players’ shoes.
Even Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag was astonished to see such blatant misuse of bowling spikes on a ball and questioned, “Yeh kya ho raha hai.(What’s going on). Is it ball tampering by Eng ya covid preventive measures”
Meanwhile, Rahane and Pujara gave the Indian second innings some stability after India lost Rohit, Rahul, and Kohli for 55 runs on the board before lunch and took them to 105/3 on tea.
