Shahid Afridi recalled the incident from a 2005 Test match between Pakistan and England and said that Shoaib Malik was also aware of the tampering and supported him.
Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi confessed to tampering with the pitch in a Test match in Faisalabad in 2005 against England. The all-rounder’s career was marred with controversies and still continues to create a few after years of his retirement.
Recalling the incident, Afridi said that there was no turn on the pitch and hence he tampered a bit with it. Shoaib Malik also participated in the tampering with him.
“The Test match was in Faisalabad. The ball was not turning, swinging, or seaming. I was applying my full force and nothing was happening. Then suddenly, a gas cylinder exploded and everyone got distracted.
I told Malik (Shoaib Malik). ‘Mera dil chaah raha hai main idhar patch bana du. Ball toh turn ho! (I want to create a patch on this pitch so badly. At least the ball will turn!),” Afridi said on Samaa TV.
“Malik replied, ‘Kar de. Koi nai dekh raha’ (Do it, no one is watching). So I did that. And then, what happened is history,” he narrated.
Afridi was also involved in ball-tampering once, wherein he bit the ball and tried to make it rougher on one side.
“That incident and the ball-biting one – when I look back at those, I realise it was a mistake,” Afridi said.
The pitch tampering incident is from England’s last tour to Pakistan, rolling the clock 17 years back. It was the second Test match of a three-match series in Faisalabad. The match, despite Afridi’s antics, had ended in a draw.
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