Australia leg-spinner Adam Zampa raised a lot of eyebrows when he was spotted putting hands inside his pocket several times and then rubbing the ball during the World Cup 2019 clash against India at The Oval in London on Sunday.
The videos and pictures of Zampa rubbing the ball each time after he put his hands inside the pocket went viral on social media. Zampa was seen taking something out of his pocket before bowling.
Fans on social media immediately started to talk about the incident and some even claimed that Zampa was tampering the ball.
https://twitter.com/Shippy1975/status/1137671643474595840
Ball Tampering 2.0 👏🙏 #INDvAUS #Zampa #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/NHs4CODoNZ
— Ravindra Jadeja Fan (@SirJadeja_Real) June 9, 2019
What's happening here? What's Adam Zampa up to? #INDvAUS #WorldCup2019
Video Credit: StarSports/Hotstar pic.twitter.com/Gqt9HxvGUr
— Navneet Mundhra (@navneet_mundhra) June 9, 2019
But Australia captain Aaron Finch after the match made it clear that Zampa had hand warmers in his pockets, which he carries in every game. Zampa didn’t pick a single wicket in the match and conceded 50 runs off his 6 overs.
“I haven’t seen the photos, but I know that he has hand warmers in his pocket. He has them every single game he plays. I honestly haven’t seen them, so I can’t comment too much on it. But I know for a fact that he has hand warmers every game,” Finch said at the post-match press conference after Australia’s 36-run loss against India.
The incident occurred a little over a year after then Australia captain Steven Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft colluded to alter the condition of a ball in a Test match against South Africa in Cape Town.
Bancroft was subsequently banned from playing cricket for ninth months, while Smith and Warner – who are now back in the Australia team – both received 12-month bans.
