India accused of ball-tampering against Australia by Inzamam-ul-Haq: 'Arshdeep was getting reverse-swing by 15th over'

India's handsome 26-run win over Australia in Monday's T20 World Cup Super Eight game, which saw them qualify for the semi-final, has been soured with Inzamam-ul-Haq levelling ball-tampering allegations against Rohit Sharma and his team. Inzamam, the former Pakistan captain, claims something was done to the ball due to which India's left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh was able to generate reverse-swing during Australia's innings.

Arshdeep was the pick of India's bowlers, grabbing 3/37. He dismissed David Warner in the first over of the innings and proceeded to send back Matthew Wade and Tim David in the 18th. But while Arshdeep was precession personified in his second spell of two overs, Inzamam sensed something fishy and urged the officials to 'keep their eyes open'

"You can't ignore the fact that when Arshdeep Singh was bowling the 15th over, the ball was reverse-swinging. Isn't it too early for the new ball to start reversing? The ball was ready to reverse by the 12th-13th over. Umpires should keep their eyes open. We a know a bit about reverse swing, so if Arshdeep Singh is able to reverse swing the ball, some serious work was done on the ball," Inzamam said on the 'World Cup Hungama' Show on Pakistan's 24 News channel.

This isn't the first time the Indian team or any of its players is accused of a ball-tampering offence. In 2001, Indian cricket was rocked when Sachin Tendulkar was suspended for one game by match referee Mike Denness after the cameras picked up visuals of the great man scuffing the ball's seam during India's Test match against South Africa in Port Elizabeth. Outside of India, former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi was banned for two T20Is after he was found guilty of ball tampering. Afridi went to the extent of biting the ball during a 2010 ODI against Australia at the WACA, which was captured by the TV cameras.

But the most infamous of them all has to be the 2018 sandpaper gate incident when the Australian trio of Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were punished severely for rubbing sandpaper on the ball in the Cape Town Test against South Africa.

Inzamam's claim gets a lot more bizarre

Coming back to Inzamam's allegations, what makes it even more baffling is the fact that the former Pakistan batter justified the ball reverse-swinging via Jasprit Bumrah but not by Arshdeep. Inzamam did try to take some heat off himself by mentioning that the ball could have behaved the way it did due to being smashed by the likes of Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head, both of whom threatened to take the game away from India, but it was too late to take it back and the damage was already done.

"The thing with reverse swing is that if Bumrah does it – his action is such – I can understand. The ball needs to be set up in a way that it reverses. I can understand that maybe the ball was hit a lot, the pitch was such. The ball could have been impacted after being hit around the stands. But whatever that was happening, could have been carefully monitored," Inzamam pointed out.