Sri Lankan skipper Dinesh Chandimal clearly denies the allegation of tampering the ball by using the sweet in his pocket on the fourth day of the second Test against the Windies on Sunday as the visitors are now having a lead of 287 runs in the second innings in St. Lucia.
Following the controversy of day three, when the start got delayed by two hours with the Sri Lankan skipper refusing to come down on the field for the continuation of the Windies’ first innings, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has imposed a charge of “altering the condition of the ball” — against Chandimal.
A video footage was revealed of Friday, which shows that the captain had taken sweets out from his left pocket and putting them in his mouth, before applying the artificial substance to the ball which the umpires viewed as an attempt to change its condition.
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Chandimal will face a hearing at the end of the Test on Monday. If found guilty, he could be suspended from the third and final Test of the series, which is scheduled to commence on Saturday in Barbados. While the ICC’s cricket committee has recommended increasing the punishment for ball tampering to a ban of four Tests or eight one-day internationals, that suggestion has yet to be implemented.
The allegations echoed a 2016 controversy when South Africa skipper, Faf du Plessis, was fined 100 percent of his match fee after being caught on camera applying sugary saliva from a mint in his mouth to shone the ball during a Test in Australia.
Despite being all the episode, Chandmal didn’t get distracted and built a strong partnership of 117 runs along with the in-form Kusal Mendis for the fifth wicket. The partnership has helped to come out of trouble as they were 48 for 4 and reached 334 for eight in their second innings and a lead of 287 by the close of play on Sunday.
Chandimal eventually fell for 39 in the second session but Mendis continued to anchor the Sri Lankan middle-order rally with a top score of 87. As well as they played, both Mendis and Chandimal had their moments of luck in the morning session.
