Denying the open truth

Well the stand in Pakistani skipper Shahid Afridi has been banned for two T20 games following his action which Afridi says was trying to taste the ball whether it is sweet. May be, had the ball not been sweet enough, he would have ordered some sugar or honey to suit his taste. Anyways, jokes apart, was this the opportunity that Shahid Afridi was looking forward to when he was made the captain of the one day side in the absence of Mohammed Yousuf? I wish Pakistan had named Afridi the skipper since the first ODI so that he could have helped his bowlers in swinging the ball by taking the wrong route.

And moreover, if one goes through the videos where Afridi is found biting the ball, he could be clearly seen doing that and the fun is that he comes out sating that he did nothing wrong despite being proved guilty by the entire would who were watching the match- some on television and few others in the stands. There was no need for anyone to do such a kind of act on the field which would draw only criticism and nothing else from the world of cricket. Pakistan had already lost the series when they had lost the 3^rd one dayer and this would have been just another one for Pak.

This does not mean that Afridi or such actions by anyone would be justified no matter at what time it came. There have been many cases of ball tampering even in the past and as far as Pakistan is considered, they have a much more share compared to that from the rest of the world. The names that can be heard regarding Pakistan's history in ball tampering include some of the greats like Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akthar. The latter having a much more share than anyone else. No matter that there were few others like Dravid, Sachin and Atherton who have also been charged with ball tampering.

Other serious offences include sledging, doping and match fixing which have been rare case compared to ball tampering. I remember the way Harbhajan Singh initially denied charges on him saying that he was not accusing Symonds of anything. So was the case with Gautam Gambhir when he hit Shahid Afridi and denied charges saying that it was accidental. There was Mohammed Asif who denies charges of doping against him when blood tests and urine tests show the opposite of what Asif claims. However, it is difficult to charge someone for match fixing with hardly any evidence being available which is clear from the fact that the last such issue was somewhere a decade back.