India totally dominated the Day 1 of the first Test against Australia in Nagpur on Thursday (February 9). First India reduced the visitors to just 177 riding on Ravindra Jadeja's brilliant fifer and then ending the day on a high with 77/1 on the back of skipper Rohit Sharma's handsome fifty.
But what got more traction than the Border Gavaskar series opener was a video which surfaced post the match and took the cricketing world by a storm for a while. Jadeja was seen rubbing something on his finger while bowling in that video. Australian media took no time in creating a ruckus around it by alleging the star all-rounder of ball-tampering. However skipper Rohit Sharma doused the debate by issuing a clarification to the ICC match referee Andy PYcroft that Jadeja was using pain-relief cream to his index finger of his bowling hand.
After the reaction of former cricketers poured in on Jadeja's ruckus on Day 1, former Australian skipper Michael Clarke is fresh to react on the same.
He thought Jadeja was probably applying vaseline to protect an injured finger, but could have avoided any debate by doing so in front of the umpire.
“He’s bowling so much so he’s probably got a blister or cut on that finger,” Clarke said on Sky Sports Radio. “What he should have done there, he should have given the ball to the umpire and stand in front of the umpire while he was putting it on his finger.
“I don’t look at that and think it’s a thing. I just wish he didn’t have the ball in his hand. If he chucks the ball to the umpire and does that I don’t think there’s any comment made about that. It’s just the perception.
“I don’t think there’s anything to it. I could be 100% wrong,” he added.
On Day 1 of the Nagpur Test, a video footage, Jadeja was seen taking a substance off the back of Mohammed Siraj’s palm with his right hand. Jadeja then appeared to rub this substance on to the index finger of his left hand – his bowling arm – just before beginning to bowl a delivery. At no point in the footage was Jadeja seen rubbing anything on the ball itself, though he did have the ball in his hands at the time. ICC has barred the use of any substance, even saliva to shine the ball. The incident took place when Australia were 120/5, by which time Jadeja had already dismissed Marnus Labuschagne, Matt Renshaw and Steven Smith.
Earlier, former Australia captain Tim Paine ignited a social media discussion after describing an on-field interaction between Jadeja, who ended the first day of play with five wickets, and teammate Mohammed Siraj as ‘interesting’. Paine, who quit as Australia’s Test skipper in November, replied to a Twitter user asking what he thought of the footage with “interesting”.
Clips of the incident went viral on social media, with former England captain Michael Vaughan also having a say. “What is it he is putting on his spinning finger? Never ever seen this …,” Vaughan wrote on Twitter.
