Serious questions have once again been raised on the credibility of Bangladesh's domestic cricket. Sensational allegations of ball tampering have come to light soon after the end of the country's first National Cricket League (NCL) Second XI tournament. It is being claimed that during the tournament, players were using Vaseline extensively to change the position of the ball and achieve reverse swing. In the final match on Friday, Dhaka Division Second XI won the title by defeating Khulna Division Second XI by an innings and 35 runs. However, instead of celebrating this victory, now the entire tournament has come under discussion regarding this new controversy of ball tampering.
Vaseline being applied secretly in hair and fingers
According to a report by Cricbuzz, players in Bangladesh's domestic cricket are carrying out ball tampering in a very vicious manner. Players keep Vaseline between their fingers, making it almost impossible to spot who has applied it to the ball. An official accused the Khulna team and said that the players keep Vaseline in their hair and rub it on the ball by running their hands on the hair in the pretext of making the ball shine. Besides, the Vaseline on the hands also gets applied to the ball when it is caught.
Due to fear of being caught, players are using Vaseline which does not have any flavor, so that the umpires do not have any suspicion even if they smell it. Let us tell you, applying Vaseline on the ball makes it heavier. Due to being heavy, the ball skids rapidly on the surface instead of swinging in the air and starts getting a dangerous reverse swing that tricks the batsmen.
Questions raised on umpires
Many people associated with the tournament claim that the on-field umpires were warned about this several times by the teams, but due to lack of evidence and indifference of the umpires, this trend is increasing rapidly in Bangladesh domestic cricket. At present, the umpire committee of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has not received any written or official complaint in this regard. Now it remains to be seen what strict action the board takes on this serious matter.