"India used vaseline?" – Ex-Pakistan cricketer Shabbir Ahmed makes explosive ball-tampering claim after Oval Test thriller
Mohammed Siraj
and
Prasidh Krishna
saw India dismiss England for 367, sealing a nail-biting six-run victory.
The pitch at The Oval was widely considered the most balanced surface of the series, offering a fair contest between bat and ball. Even on Day 5, the old ball continued to swing significantly, making batting a tough challenge. Though India had the opportunity to opt for a new ball after the 80th over, they chose to stick with the old one due to its movement—and the decision proved crucial.
Productivity Tool
Zero to Hero in Microsoft Excel: Complete Excel guide
By Metla Sudha Sekhar
View Program
Finance
Introduction to Technical Analysis & Candlestick Theory
By Dinesh Nagpal
View Program
Finance
Financial Literacy i e Lets Crack the Billionaire Code
By CA Rahul Gupta
View Program
Digital Marketing
Digital Marketing Masterclass by Neil Patel
By Neil Patel
View Program
Finance
Technical Analysis Demystified- A Complete Guide to Trading
By Kunal Patel
View Program
Productivity Tool
Excel Essentials to Expert: Your Complete Guide
By Study at home
View Program
Artificial Intelligence
AI For Business Professionals Batch 2
By Ansh Mehra
View Program
However, Shabbir Ahmed raised suspicions over India's tactics and suggested foul play. Posting on X, he insinuated ball tampering and demanded an investigation: "I think India used Vaseline. After 80 + over Ball still shine like new Umpire should send this ball to lab for examine," he wrote.
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
Undo
— ShabbirTestCric (@ShabbirTestCric)
New-Look India Sends a Strong Message
India arrived in England missing key players—Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were unavailable, Jasprit Bumrah missed two crucial Tests, and Rishabh Pant was ruled out of the final match due to injury. Many members of the squad were playing in England for the first time. Despite the challenges, India maintained an upper hand throughout the series.
Live Events
While they did suffer two defeats, India arguably played the better cricket in those matches but couldn't seize crucial moments, which led to their losses. Ultimately, the team returned home with a drawn series (2-2), having shown depth, resilience, and promise. A major highlight was how every player who featured in the series managed to justify their selection.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Test leadership ticked, how about Gill as all-format captain?
Kolkata: It might be too early to discuss, but there can never be a right time to debate what India's cross-format leadership should look like. Suryakumar Yadav leads the T20 side and Shubman Gill the Test team but there remains some doubt over whether Rohit Sharma would continue being the ODI captain. Sharma is 38 and keeping in mind India's white-ball leadership discussions are more or less event-oriented, he should be pushing 40 by the time the ODI World Cup arrives in India in 2027. One captain for T20Is and another for ODIs has never been the approach of BCCI. And since Surya wasn't picked for the Champions Trophy earlier this year, his chances of bridging that gap have become slim. India's player of the series India's captain Shubman Gill in their five-match Test series against England at The Kia Oval in London, Monday. (AP) Gill as India's all-format captain however has a nice ring to it. At 25, he has the age advantage that gives India a solid ICC events outlook of at least a decade. His Test captaincy baptism in England was possibly the most rigorous in the past decade, but it can't help but be seen as one that made Gill stronger than ever. Few wrinkles exist, like the thought process behind spreading out the field on the final day of the Oval Test, or some of the non-directional bowling strategies in the earlier Tests. Keeping in mind that this was Gill's first series as captain, one can only expect improvements from here. Of course, the success Gill the batter has had is another story. When the batter inside a captain feels as good as Gill after taking down a long-standing record of Don Bradman, it's bound to leave a heightened sense of belonging at this level. Not only because the success in England came across as quantitatively better than his contemporaries, but also because it was more worked for while anchoring a batting order that was tweaked every game. Gill knows what works for him, but more importantly he knows what doesn't work. And since India have equated good captaincy with the ability to keep churning out runs as batters, Gill seems good to go on that front. What somehow doesn't get enough traction is how good a batter Gill is in other formats. He has a double hundred in ODIs and a hundred in T20Is — the gold standard for batsmanship these days. Not to forget how a disrupted white-ball career can't take away from Gill a sterling average of nearly 60 in ODIs and a strike rate of almost 140 in T20Is. He was probably the only top-order batter to miss out on a hundred in the 2023 ODI World Cup at home, but at that time it didn't matter because India had all the bases covered till No.7 in the batting order. A tournament average of 44, thus, doesn't look bad at all. Two years later, he averaged 47 in the Champions Trophy, breaking his hundred drought at ICC ODI events with a steady century against Bangladesh in the tournament opener. This, mind you, while juggling batting duties at two different positions, a stance Gill may not tinker with in future. Sure, opening in white-ball format may look easier with a new ball in operation from both ends on primarily flat pitches, but if Gill continues to open after becoming captain he risks being judged through a single prism with very finite possibilities. If he doesn't score heavily, he may be termed a liability, a hastily drawn conclusion no opening batter captain (Rohit, Sourav Ganguly come to mind here) has been able to escape till date. And if Gill scores, it will only be considered a value enhancer. It's a double-edged sword he willingly took on when Rohit and Virat Kohli announced their Test retirements in May. Think harder though, and you will find Gill had embraced this way of life a year earlier — with the Gujarat Titans for a good 50 days or so across 15 IPL matches — only because Hardik Pandya chose to move back to Mumbai Indians. This is franchise cricket by the way, where a testing annual appraisal ensures there is very little scope for a cricketer to grow into a role. Do or die is the mandate and Gill seemed fine by it when he accepted the challenge. Forty of those 50 days Titans were leading the table while Gill was scoring heavily, before they lost their way a bit towards the end and fell just short of making the final. Till that stumble, Gill ensured an unprecedented batting superiority in the form of a record seven 200-plus IPL totals for Titans. A scintillating strike rate of 155, 650 runs, six fifties and a nearly there finish — Gill had unwittingly checked most of the boxes in the India T20 captaincy wishlist. With the T20 World Cup barely six months away, it remains to be seen how long it takes to zoom in on Gill as an all-format captaincy contender.
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
Rashid Khan on rare games at home: ‘Love and joy of people back home keeps me going'
Last month, Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan enjoyed 12 rare days of cricket in Kabul. The leg-spinner was part of the 12-day Shpageeza Cricket League held at the Alokozay stadium in late July. So rare has he played at home that only 22 of his 483 T20 appearances have arrived on home soil. He has donned the Afghanistan stripes in 216 games across formats, but not once on home soil. Hence, he cherished the rare home games. 'We hardly play any games at home so to go there and see the happiness on their faces is great. It's massive for the young generation to see their players on the ground. They always watch on TV,' he told The Times. The stands were packed, overwhelming Rashid. 'They were big, they're always big, they love watching us play. The capacity [of the stadium] was not that big, but outside there were double or triple the number of people waiting. I was there for a week and there wasn't a day when there weren't people everywhere you go. They want pictures, they want selfies. The love you get is unbelievable,' he said. His countrymen's love for him keeps him going, he said. 'When you see the people back home in Afghanistan and the love they have for this game, that just keeps me going. I have to give them that happiness when we win. When I played the other day [at Lord's], they all celebrated. They were cheering for me. It's the only source of happiness., That's something which keeps me going, keeps me motivated, keeps me full of energy. I want to deliver something special for my team and the people,' he said. He also expressed his desire to play a Test at Lord's. 'To play Test cricket against England at Lord's is more than a dream. It would be the same feeling as winning a World Cup. Everyone wants to play Test cricket there.' However, doctors have advised him to abstain from Test cricket, as his shoulders could creak. He once admitted that he felt the effects of bowling more than 50 overs when taking 11 wickets to help defeat Zimbabwe in January. 'It's a big decision for me, how much Test cricket I should play. It's not that I don't like the format, it's my body condition. When I was younger I had no issues. Now I have to be selective,' he said, stressing that he would reduce the volume of franchise cricket and not compromise his national duties to manage workload. He was all praise for coach Jonathan Trott, under whose guidance Afghanistan reached the last four of the T20 World Cup last year. 'He has done so much for the cricket of Afghanistan. He has brought the team together regardless of many issues. He kept everyone cool and together and a lot of credit goes to him for his hard work and dedication. We were talented but we needed someone like him to guide us in the right way,' he said.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
AUS vs SA, 1st T20I: Tim David's fireworks and Josh Hazlewood's triple strike power Australia to triumph
Tim David of Australia (Photo by) Tim David 's explosive 83 runs from 52 balls, including eight sixes, propelled Australia to a 17-run victory over South Africa in their Twenty20 series opener in Darwin on Sunday, August 10, 2025. Australia posted 178 runs before being bowled out, while South Africa managed 161-9 in response, marking Australia's ninth consecutive T20 win. Cameron Green contributed 35 runs off 13 balls for Australia, while South African bowler Kwena Maphaka impressed with figures of 4-20, achieving a rare feat of bowling out Australia in a T20 match. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! Ryan Rickelton fought hard for South Africa with 71 runs before falling to a remarkable catch by Glenn Maxwell on the boundary. Josh Hazlewood and Ben Dwarshuis were the standout bowlers for Australia, taking three wickets each. "Great way to start the series," said Australian captain Mitchell Marsh . "Certainly we want guys like David to come out and bat the way he did, he was the difference." Australia's innings began with Marsh hitting a six off the first ball, continuing their momentum from a recent 5-0 series victory against the West Indies. However, they lost quick wickets as Travis Head and Josh Inglis departed early. The hosts found themselves in trouble at 75-6 after losing Green, Mitch Owen, and Maxwell. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Gold Is Surging in 2025 — Smart Traders Are Already In IC Markets Learn More Undo David's partnership with Dwarshuis, who scored 17 runs, added crucial 59 runs for the seventh wicket. Poll Who was the standout performer in the match? Tim David Ryan Rickelton Kwena Maphaka Josh Hazlewood Tristan Stubbs dropped David when he was on 56 but later redeemed himself by catching him to end the powerful innings. South Africa's chase started poorly with captain Aiden Markram falling to Hazlewood in the first over. By the sixth over, they had lost three wickets for 48 runs. Rickelton and Stubbs (37) showed resistance with a 72-run partnership, but Hazlewood's two wickets in one over derailed their momentum. Adam Zampa followed with similar success in the next over, effectively ending South Africa's hopes. "It got close, but we were pretty far from our best tonight," Markram said. The match marked the return of international cricket to Australia's tropical north after 17 years. The second game of the three-match series is scheduled for Tuesday in Darwin. Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
