Tendulkar questioned by match-referee
The beleaguered Indian cricket team was on Monday in the midst of a
major controversy with its top batsman Sachin Tendulkar being
questioned for suspicion of ball tampering and four other
players being summoned by the match-referee for 'excessive
appealing'.
The match-referee, England's Mike Denness, called Tendulkar on Monday morning after seeing footage of the three overs of medium-fast bowling by the Indian, prior to lunch on the
third day of the second Test on Sunday. He was
examining whether the master batsman had tampered with the
ball.
After the meeting, it was informally stated that
Tendulkar had been cleared but Denness said later that he
would issue a formal statement in the evening after consulting
the International Cricket Council in London.
Meanwhile, Denness summoned Shiv Sunder Das, Deep
Dasgupta, Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag for a closed-
door meeting at which he reportedly cautioned them against
excessive appealing.
Tendulkar found strong support from his skipper Sourav
Ganguly, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar and others who said
that it was unthinkable that he would indulge in ball
tampering.
Ganguly said Tendulkar had a blemishless record and, for
somebody who has played as long as the Mumbai maestro has, it
was 'unthinkable' he could have been tampering with the ball.
Ganguly said Tendulkar had only been trying to remove the
mud and dirt from the ball, an argument supported by former
skipper Sunil Gavaskar. Gavaskar said he couldn't imagine
Tendulkar "being accused of something as serious as ball
tampering".
Going strictly by the law, Tendulkar may be said to have
erred in not removing the dirt in the presence of umpires as
required by the rules of the game. Law 42.3 of cricket states
that a fielder could remove mud from the ball under the
supervision of the umpire.
The law further states: "It is unfair for anyone to rub
the ball on the ground for any reason, interfere with any of
the seams or the surface of the ball, use any implement, or
take any other action whatsoever which is likely to alter the
condition of the ball."
The umpires can award five penalty runs to the batting
side if they are convinced that the above rule has been
violated.
However, it was learnt that no charges were being pressed
against Tendulkar by the South African side.
Another former India captain Ravi Shastri felt only those
who don't know Tendulkar would make such an allegation against
him.
"Mike (Denness) must have thought about having a cup of
tea in the company of the great Indian master," Shastri
quipped, referring to Tendulkar's meeting with the match-
referee.
India's tour of South Africa : Complete coverage
Mail Cricket Editor