Controversies
[edit]Ball Tampering
[edit]Reverse swing
Main article: Reverse Swing
Reverse swing was first discovered by Sarfraz Nawaz in the 1970s, who then passed it on to another Pakistani bowler, Imran Khan. Khan mastered reverse swing and the evidence of reverse swing by him was seen in 1983 in a Test match against India at Karachi, where he took 5 wickets in 25 balls. Imran Khan subsequently passed this skill on to Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram who are considered to have been the finest exponents of the delivery.[36][37][38]
On Pakistan's 1992 tour of England, England had no answer to the reverse swing, a new phenomenon to them. Pakistan won the series 2–1. The series was controversial one as the Pakistani team were accused of ball tampering, particularly being discriminated against by the English media.
However, it was later proved that the Pakistani bowlers were simply ahead of their time. Following this episode, reverse swing expanded around the cricket world and more bowlers, including those from England, mastered the technique.
[edit]2006 incident
During the fourth Test against England at the Oval on 20 August 2006, ball tampering accusations were made against the Pakistani team, which resulted in the team forfeiting the match. On the fourth day of the Test, during England's second innings, the ball began to late reverse swing for Umar Gul in particular, resulting in him dismissing Alastair Cook LBW to an inswinging yorker. Four overs later, on examining the ball, umpire Darrell Hair decided there was evidence that the ball had been tampered with. He consulted with the other umpire, Billy Doctrove and penalised the Pakistani team for interfering with the condition of the ball, awarding five runs to England. Following the playing conditions for that Test, the England batsmen were allowed to choose a replacement ball from a selection of six provided. Although play continued until the end of the afternoon session, the Pakistani team decided in principle, not to reappear at the start of the third session. This decision was made in protest of what they believed to be an unjust and insensitive decision. Pakistan's claim was that the ball had been damaged by being hit to the boundary. As a result of the Pakistani team's failure to appear at the field, the umpires awarded the test to England, cricket's first and only forfeiture till July 2008 when the cricket's international governing body International Cricket Council (ICC) changed the result of the test from an English win to a draw (it was then restored to an England win in February 2009).
The Pakistani team was cleared of any wrongdoing and Darrell Hair was banned when further proceedings saw captain Inzamam-ul-Haq found not guilty of ball tampering. However, the team's protest led to him being banned for four games on the charge of bringing the game of cricket into disrepute.[39][40][41]
[edit]Match fixing
[edit]2010 spot-fixing allegations
During Pakistan Tour of England In 2010 British tabloid newspaper News of the World alleged spot-fixing had been taking place involving 7 of the Pakistani test players.[42][43]
[edit]Doping
Immediately following the 2006 ball tampering controversy was the news that front line fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif had both tested positive for Nandrolone, a bannedanabolic steroid. Though both denied any substance abuse, on 1 November 2006 both Akhtar and Asif were banned for a period of 2 years and 1 year respectively. However, both fast bowlers were successful in their appeals with the earlier bans being revoked. The World Anti-Doping Agency made an appeal in the Court of Arbitration for Sport over the revoking of this ban.[44] However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport later dropped the case, ruling it had no jurisdiction to challenge the decision made by PCB.[45][46]
