PCB rejects Gladiators concerns on ball tampering

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has rejected Quetta Gladiators’ ball-tampering complaint against Peshawar Zalmi’s pacer Wahab Riaz on technical grounds, saying no proper procedure was adopted to register the case with the authorities.

A PCB official has confirmed to The News that the matter had been closed as Quetta Gladiators did not follow proper procedure to register complaint against the bowler. “Quetta Gladiators have used umpires evaluation form to register complaint against Wahab Riaz for alleged ball tampering during Saturday’s match against Zalmi. Since no proper procedure was adopted to register the complaint we have decided not to move on the matter any further,” he said.

The complainant should have followed the proper procedure given and that is to intimate the concern in the PCB through a prescribed form and through an email. “Our rules are very clear in this respect. Proper form should have been filled to register the ball tampering complaint against Wahab Riaz or even the compliant should have been registered through an email. That was never the case and the PCB had no other option but to reject the ball tampering concern that was highlighted through umpires evaluation form. These forms are only meant for registering complaint against the umpires,” the official said. It was Gladiators’ Jason Roy who accused Wahab Riaz of ball-tampering as two had a verbal clash during the match. It has been reported that Roy even had asked Waha Riaz whether he had tampered the ball to gain reverse swing. His remarks angered Wahab who was seen getting engaged with batsmen in lengthy arguments.

Gladiators captain Sarfraz Ahmad intervened to pacify both and avoided further arguments. A PCB hand-out later said Match Referee Roshan Mahanama has not received an official complaint from Quetta Gladiators against Peshawar Zalmi for changing the condition of the ball during their 22 February fixture in the HBL Pakistan Super League 2020 at the National Stadium on Saturday.