London, June 16:Pakistan skipper Younis Khan called the extra scrutiny of the ball by umpires during their game against Ireland in World Twenty20 as “embarrassing.”
Umpires checked the ball after every over at the Lord’s Monday following the unproven ball-tampering allegations raised by New Zealand against seamer Umar Gul. The Pakistani fast bowler demolised the New Zealanders with his record five for six, getting the new ball to reverse swing, during their first Super Eight game at The Oval.
Though match officials found the charges to be baseless, umpires Rudi Koertzen and Rod Tucker constantly checked the ball during Pakistan’s emphatic 39-run win over Ireland.
“We’re not cheating and it was very embarrassing with the umpires checking the ball all the time. Sometimes it is very embarrassing because there are a lot of cameras, so how can we cheat?” Younis was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph.
The charges of ball tampering have come back to haunt Pakistan once again at the Oval, where they forfeited the Test against England in 2006 when they refused to take the field in protest over a five-run penalty imposed by umpire Darrell Hair, who believed that the ball had been tampered with.
Pakistan were cleared of that accusation by the ICC last year but this is their first return to English soil since that incident and the controversy has emerged again.
“Why does this happen all the time in England?” asked Younis. “Don’t talk about a bowler like Umar Gul because he has a good reputation. Why is it always about Pakistan?”
“I think we should forget about this thing and just focus on the game. There are a lot of cameras so why didn’t the cameras catch us doing something?” he said. IANS