Not a write charge
Furious Kumble defends captain Kohli, refutes allegations of ball tampering reported in English media.
Thanks to some over-zealous reporting, Indian captain Virat Kohli is finding himself in a rather baseless controversy of attempting to temper with the state of ball during the first Test in Rajkot. He was alleged to have used saliva mixed with sweetness from some sort of toffee or jelly in his mouth.
But coach Anil Kumble not only rubbished these allegations but also said that the India team is least concerned by such trash talk. “First of all, I don't want to react to any report that is there in the media. As far as I am concerned, neither the umpire nor the match referee ever came to us talking about it. We would certainly not like to give too much wind to the story,” Kumble said.
Kumble said that the reports in the British media do not perturb him or the team, “There is nothing to worry about. People can allege and write whatever they want. As far as we are concerned, none of our players were a part of such activity.”
The controversy had followed an incident during the South Africa-Australia Test where South Africa captain Faf du Plessis was found guilty of using some sort of jelly in his mouth to shine the ball and was fined 100 percent of his match fees.
Meanwhile, England fast bowler Chris Woakes, who will replace the injured Stuart Broad for the third Test at Mohali, termed the use of a sweet or a cream to shine the ball as a grey area as far as rules are concerned. “Occasionally at drinks breaks, the guys will come and have sweets or mints - just to freshen up and keep the energy going. But nothing from the sweet is allowed to go on the ball, or is supposed to. So therefore we don't do that. It's just a sugar boost really, I suppose. In the middle of the day, there's only so many fluids you can take on board — so many bananas you can eat — so during a tough session, when the opposition are 200 for two, the odd lolly here or there is quite nice.”
Woakes insisted that they won’t be changing anything as far as shining the ball is concerned after the recent incident. “We won't be changing anything we do when we go out there this week. There're cameras always on you and always have been ... there's nothing we need to change. We try to saturate the one side of the ball, get it as smooth as possible. Generally the ball doesn't conventionally swing here, so we try to make the most of that for the first six overs ... keep the other side as dry and rough as possible.”
He added, “If you're seen putting a sweet on to the ball, I think that is against the rules. But everything else seems to be a little bit of a grey area.”
PARTHIV CHECKS IN, KUMBLE DEFENDS HIS SELECTION
Anil Kumble feels that Parthiv Patel's experience as well as better "keeping skills" have enabled him to make a comeback. “Parthiv has been really consistent both with his keeping as well as his batting. That's why Parthiv was chosen. Rishabh has certainly shown the exuberance a young cricketer can bring in. He has shown a lot of batting skills. He has obviously got a lot of runs in domestic cricket. But Parthiv was chosen for his keeping skills and his experience,” the India coach said. He has a lso made it clear that Wriddhiman Saha, who is a few notches above his peers in terms of glove work, still remains the first-choice keeper of the Test team which may well mean that Mohali will be only chance for Parthiv (who joined the team yesterday) to prove himself.
Thanks to some over-zealous reporting, Indian captain Virat Kohli is finding himself in a rather baseless controversy of attempting to temper with the state of ball during the first Test in Rajkot. He was alleged to have used saliva mixed with sweetness from some sort of toffee or jelly in his mouth.
But coach Anil Kumble not only rubbished these allegations but also said that the India team is least concerned by such trash talk. “First of all, I don't want to react to any report that is there in the media. As far as I am concerned, neither the umpire nor the match referee ever came to us talking about it. We would certainly not like to give too much wind to the story,” Kumble said.
Nothing to worry
Kumble said that the reports in the British media do not perturb him or the team, “There is nothing to worry about. People can allege and write whatever they want. As far as we are concerned, none of our players were a part of such activity.”
The controversy had followed an incident during the South Africa-Australia Test where South Africa captain Faf du Plessis was found guilty of using some sort of jelly in his mouth to shine the ball and was fined 100 percent of his match fees.
Meanwhile, England fast bowler Chris Woakes, who will replace the injured Stuart Broad for the third Test at Mohali, termed the use of a sweet or a cream to shine the ball as a grey area as far as rules are concerned. “Occasionally at drinks breaks, the guys will come and have sweets or mints - just to freshen up and keep the energy going. But nothing from the sweet is allowed to go on the ball, or is supposed to. So therefore we don't do that. It's just a sugar boost really, I suppose. In the middle of the day, there's only so many fluids you can take on board — so many bananas you can eat — so during a tough session, when the opposition are 200 for two, the odd lolly here or there is quite nice.”
Woakes insisted that they won’t be changing anything as far as shining the ball is concerned after the recent incident. “We won't be changing anything we do when we go out there this week. There're cameras always on you and always have been ... there's nothing we need to change. We try to saturate the one side of the ball, get it as smooth as possible. Generally the ball doesn't conventionally swing here, so we try to make the most of that for the first six overs ... keep the other side as dry and rough as possible.”
He added, “If you're seen putting a sweet on to the ball, I think that is against the rules. But everything else seems to be a little bit of a grey area.”
PARTHIV CHECKS IN, KUMBLE DEFENDS HIS SELECTION
Anil Kumble feels that Parthiv Patel's experience as well as better "keeping skills" have enabled him to make a comeback. “Parthiv has been really consistent both with his keeping as well as his batting. That's why Parthiv was chosen. Rishabh has certainly shown the exuberance a young cricketer can bring in. He has shown a lot of batting skills. He has obviously got a lot of runs in domestic cricket. But Parthiv was chosen for his keeping skills and his experience,” the India coach said. He has a lso made it clear that Wriddhiman Saha, who is a few notches above his peers in terms of glove work, still remains the first-choice keeper of the Test team which may well mean that Mohali will be only chance for Parthiv (who joined the team yesterday) to prove himself.
