Following the bans imposed on Australian captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner, Sri Lanka’s skipper has also been included in the list of culprits for ball tampering.
Dinesh Chandimal was found guilty by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday and will miss the third Test against West Indies in the on-going series between both nations.
Match referee, Jawagal Srinath, elaborated and explained the situation:
It is clear that Dinesh Chandimal applied an artificial substance to the ball, namely saliva containing the residue of something he had in his mouth, an action which is prohibited under the ICC Code of Conduct.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTBCMlwmHzI
In video evidence, the player was caught using saliva and sweets in his mouth to tamper with the ball to give it more spin. Chandimal has received two suspension points and has been fined 100 percent of his match fee due to the incident.
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As per the ICC rules: the points equate to a ban from one Test or two ODIs or two T20Is, whatever comes first for the player, Chandimal will now miss the day/night Barbados Test, starting from Saturday.
Critical Analysis of the Situation
In international sports, incidents are carefully analyzed before an official decision is announced. Srinath analyzed the evidence at hand and stated:
Dinesh took something from his pocket and put it into his mouth. After sucking or chewing whatever he put in his mouth for a few seconds Dinesh then proceeded to spit on his finger and polish the ball with his saliva which would have contained the residue of the artificial substance that he had in his mouth, on two separate occasions.
Aleem Dar inspecting the ball after Chandimal mishandled it.
The referee claims that Chandimal has not fully revealed what the substance was and termed his defense as unconvincing.
During the hearing, Dinesh admitted to putting something in his mouth but couldn’t remember what it was, which I found unconvincing as a defence.
Sri Lankan cricket board is yet to make a statement, which is very shocking considering the nature of allegations and the evidence found against the captain of the cricket team.
