India vs South Africa: When Sachin Tendulkar was accused of ball tampering match referee in 2001 SA tour | Cricket News
The India-South Africa series have always brought with it a fair share of drama as well as controversies. As the Men in Blue prepare for their upcoming trip to the Proteas’ playground in the series which will kickstart on December 10, here’s a look back at one infamous incident in 2001 when Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar was suspended the match referee Mike Denness for ball tampering charges.
The incident took place in the second Test at Port Elizabeth when Denness handed suspensions to six Indian players including captain Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag and Tendulkar. While Ganguly was banned for one Test and 2 ODIs, Sehwag was handed a suspension for one Test. The lightning rod for controversy was over Tendulkar’s 1-Test ban for ‘tampering the ball.’
The furore was so huge that it was also brought up in the Indian parliament while enraged fans burnt effigies of Denness on the streets with some even branding the match referee as rac.
Denness had referred to a video of Tendulkar running his fingers on the seam of the ball. It did seem implausible to the naked eye that he could have changed the ball’s condition in any way and the Indian legend himself said that he was only trying to take out the dirt from the seam in wet conditions.
Ultimately the bans did not stand with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) threatening to pull out of the tour and the South African board fearing the ramifications, decided to not pers with Denness as an official for the third test.
The ICC, however, deemed the third test as unofficial due to the fact that the designated official did not oversee the match. As a result Shaun Pollock who had scored a century in that Test did not get his name in the record books.
After the incident, Denness would serve as match referee in only two more Tests and three more ODIs as ICC decided to not reappoint him in the future
