Virat Kohli tampered with ball during 1st England Test, alleges British tabloid

New Delhi, Nov 22: A British tabloid has now accused India's Test skipper Virat Kohli of tampering with the ball during first Test match against England at Rajkot.

India-England series schedule; Photos

The sensational allegations were levelled on a day when ICC penalised South African Test captain Faf du Plessis for tampering the ball during 2nd Test match against Australia.

British tabloid 'The Daily Mail' has produced inconclusive evidence to show that Kohli used to shine the ball with the residue of a sweet in his mouth. It has posted a video in which it claims Virat Kohli is applying 'banned substance' on the ball by taking it out of his teeth.

"Footage has emerged of India captain Virat Kohli appearing to shine the ball using residue from a sweet during his country's draw with England in the first Test," the report in The Daily Mail read.

"Television cameras caught Kohli, who finished on 49 not out on the final day in Rajkot, putting his right hand towards his mouth," it added.

"The 28-year-old can be seen rubbing his fingers in his mouth, inside of which is a sweet. He then appears to shine one side of the ball."

The video evidence seems to be inconclusive and has backfired because the match umpires and match referee didn't complain about the same.

India on Monday (November 21) thrashed England by 246 runs in the second Test match to take 1-0 lead in the 5-Test rubbber.

Former South Africa wicketkeeper batsman Mark Boucher too reacted on Twitter and shared the alleged video on his Twitter handle.

😂😂😂 https://t.co/XIR5O5FFXr

— mark boucher (@markb46) November 22, 2016

Earlier on Tuesday, Faf du Plessis was found guilty of breaching Article 2.2.9 of the ICC Code of Conduct following a hearing before Andy Pycroft of the Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees in Adelaide. He was fined 100 per cent of his match fee after being charged with ball tampering.

Du Plessis was charged by ICC Chief Executive David Richardson after television footage appeared to show Mr du Plessis applying an artificial substance to the ball during the fourth day's play in the second Test against Australia in Hobart, ICC said in a media release.

However, cricket fans and enthusiasts are terming it an attempt to hide England team's humiliating loss. They asked those badmouthing sports persons to stop doing so and appealed the team to comeback strongly in the next game instead.

OneIndia News

(With inputs from agencies)