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Former England opener Dawid Malan has made a controversial suggestion to provide balance between bat and ball. Malan wants ball-tampering legalised as he believes that it's a new thing and has been practice for a long time. He feels that there should be no outside substance allowed to tamper the ball but the fielding team should be allowed to scratch it to extra reverse swing early.
“Historically, over the game, people have been caught trying to tamper with the ball for years. You know it’s not a new thing. I actually think you should legalise it, like just let people scratch the ball," Malan said on BBC’s Strategic Time Out Podcast.
“Obviously, do not bring things in from outside. But, it’s a skill in itself — to get the ball to reverse swing."
Malan believes that it will give rise to more close matches where tailenders will play a big part and teams won’t win with several wickets in hand.
“I think it would make cricket a lot more bowler-friendly towards the end, if you can get the ball reversing," he explained.
“I think it would make games tighter towards the end, and it wouldn’t just be winning with six wickets in hand."
Death overs advantage to bowlers
The former no.1 T20I batter believes that ball-tampering will give tactical advantage to bowlers, especially in death overs.
“Batters are so skilled now, that if you can get any tactical advantage with the ball — shaping it a little bit, reverse swinging it — you want to do what you can to do that."
“If you can get the ball to move, it makes such a difference at the death — the hardest overs to bowl," the 38-year-old said.
Of late, the ODI rules have been changed as ICC took steps to offer more balance between bat and ball. Earlier, two balls were used in an ODI innings, 25 overs each. Now, two balls are used till the 34th over. Then, the captain is asked to choose one ball for the remaining 16 overs.
Ball-tampering in T20s
The most recent example of ball-tampering came from Pakistan. In the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2026, Lahore Qalandars’ Fakhar Zaman was caught changing the condition of the ball just before the final over. Qalandars faced a five-run penalty and Karachi Kings won the low-scoring clash. Later, Zaman was banned for two matches. However, no action was taken against Qalandars skipper Shaheen Afridi.
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