'Australia clearly played with the ball and no one is talking about it' - Basit Ali inculpates Australia of ball tampering

Former Pakistan international Basit Ali has blamed Australia for tampering with the ball during Day 2 of the World Test Championship final against India. The 52-year-old pointed out that the Dukes ball doesn’t reverse swing before at least 40 overs but the Pat Cummins-led side was able to get it to reverse only after 15 overs, courtesy of which, they got the better of Cheteshwar Pujara and others.

Notably, Pujara was outsmarted with a brilliant delivery that came in while Kohli had no answer to Mitchell Starc’s vicious bouncer. Meanwhile, Basit blasted the umpires and the commentators for not being able to decipher Australia’s ball-tampering technique as he eventually went on to explain the entire mechanism.

“Firstly, I would clap for those watching the match from commentary box, and the umpires. Australia clearly played with the ball and no one is talking about it. No batter is wondering 'What is happening?' The biggest example is batters getting bowled while leaving the ball. 

"Let me give you the evidence too. Until the 54th over when Shami was bowling, the shine was on the outside and the ball moved back into Steve Smith. This is not called reverse swing. Reverse swing is when the shine is on the inside and the ball comes back in,” Ali said on his YouTube channel.

“Look at the 16th, 17th and 18th over, the ball on which Virat Kohli got out... look at the shine. Mitchell Starc had the ball in his hand with the shiny end pointing outside but the ball was moving the other way. Jadeja was hitting the ball on the on-side and the ball was flying over point. Have the umpires gone blind? God knows who all are sitting there who can't see such a simple thing,” he further added.

Meanwhile, Australia remain in the driver’s seat after Day 2 of the WTC final. Courtesy of phenomenal centuries from Travis Head and Steve Smith, the Kangaroos posted 469 runs on board in the first innings while their bowlers were brilliant as well. India meanwhile are 151/5 and need a massive comeback in order to put Australia under some kind of pressure on Day 3.