Gros-Islet (Saint Lucia): Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal has been accused of ball-tampering by the International Cricket Council. The allegation surfaced on the third day of the ongoing second Test between West Indies and Sri Lanka on Saturday. The breach relates to changing the condition of the ball.
The same charge was levelled against Australia batsman Cameron Bancroft who was caught on camera rubbing a piece of sandpaper on the ball against South Africa in March. Sri Lanka were charged with altering the condition of the ball by umpires Aleem Dar and Ian Gould, who reviewed video of the West Indies first innings on Friday.
Play started two hours late on Saturday after the Sri Lankans, led by Chandimal, refused to take the field in protest. Then the team went out to the middle and walked back to the boundary, where arguing with officials didn’t relent for another 40 minutes. Sri Lanka Cricket has strongly denied involvement of any of its players in ball-tampering. Former Sri Lanka player Kumar Sangakkara told Sky Sports in the UK: “I think that everyone is a bit jumpy and walking on eggshells, especially after what happened in South Africa. So maybe the umpire was just being over-cautious.