The ball tampering incident has left every cricket lover in a state of shock as Australians were considered to be very competitive and aggressive but not cheaters. The Australian trio of Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft are penalised by Cricket Australia and while Smith and Warner are banned for 12 months, Bancroft is suspended for 9 months. These players won’t be able to play in the Indian Premier League which is going to start from April 7.
Earlier the International Cricket Council banned Smith for 1 test match and imposed a fine of one match fee.
Many former cricketers have talked about this matter and now one of the greatest cricket legends of all time, Sachin Tendulkar has also made his opinion known to public. Sachin normally remains silent on controversial issues; however this time, he also couldn’t stop himself from expressing his views.
Master Blaster took to Twitter and wrote,
“Cricket has been known as a gentleman’s game. It’s a game that I believe should be played in the purest form. Whatever has happened is unfortunate but the right decision has been taken to uphold the integrity of the game. Winning is important but the way you win is more important.”
Here’s the tweet of Sachin:
Cricket has been known as a gentleman's game. It's a game that I believe should be played in the purest form. Whatever has happened is unfortunate but the right decision has been taken to uphold the integrity of the game. Winning is important but the way you win is more important
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) March 28, 2018
While Sachin calls the punishment as right decision, his Australian counterpart Shane Warne feels otherwise.
Here’s what he wrote in his column,
“Let’s take the emotion out of it. We are all feeling angry and embarrassed. But you need a level head and you shouldn’t destroy someone unless they deserve to be destroyed. Their actions were indefendable, and they need to be severely punished. But I don’t think a one-year ban is the answer.”
In 2001 when Indian team visited South Africa during the second Test at Port Elizabeth, the match referee Mike Denness accused Sachin of ball tampering as he felt that Sachin was damaging the seam of the ball. However, Sachin said that he was trying to clean the dirt and was not tampering the ball.
BCCI supported the legend and its chief Jagmohan Dalmiya threatened to pull out of the series. As a result, Mike was removed by the South African Cricket Board and sent home. That test match was declared unofficial by the ICC.
What do you have to say on this matter of ball tampering? Do you think that the punishment is reasonable? Let us know your views.