England vs Pakistan: Ball Tampering Suggestions Quashed by Morgan After Pakistan Defeat

England skipper Eoin Morgan quenched any talk of ball-tampering after Jos Buttler and Joe Root were slightly surprised with the state of the ball during the second innings in their last encounter against Pakistan on Monday (June 3).

The moment after Buttler completed his century with a boundary, the throw came towards him and before passing the ball to the Umpire, the wicketkeeper-batsman had a close look at the ball. Root too did something similar during his stay in the middle.

When asked about the incident, Morgan cleared the air by saying that the umpires even questioned them during the first innings regarding how they were managing the ball.

"The discussions were throughout the whole of the two innings. The umpires came to me after about - I can't remember the exact over - but it was mid-innings. They seemed to think that we were throwing the ball in on the bounce too much or it was being over-exaggerated," said Morgan.

"I thought Pakistan were doing the exact same thing, and Jos was just intrigued to see when the ball gets hit against LED boards, it does scuff it up quite a lot. I'm sure he was interested to see if one side was rougher than the other or if it looked natural or unnatural."

Meanwhile, Root's response was simply ambiguous: "I'm not going to get involved or I'll only get myself in trouble."

Michael Vaughan too had his say as he believes the entire incident was overblown.

"There was nothing untoward, just a little bit of gamesmanship. It is a trick of the trade - you get the ball and you fling it one-bounce into the keeper," Vaughan said on BBC Radio 5.

“There were a few occasions today where the teams were throwing the ball in on the bounce from 10, 15 yards and that's where the umpires step in.

"England did the same so when the chase is on and the pressure is on, you can't start pointing the finger."