The ongoing edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) is only five days old, and several controversies have already plagued the tournament. The opening day was headlined with the ball changing its colour to pink while Shaheen Afridi and Sikandar Raza have been accused of breaching the security. Moreover, the ball tampering allegations have hit the league, and Fakhar Zaman has been at the centre of the controversy.
He has been charged with changing the condition of the ball in Lahore Qalandars' four-wicket defeat at the hands of Karachi Kings during the game on Sunday. "Lahore Qalandars’ Fakhar Zaman has been charged with a Level 3 Offence under Article 2.14 of the applicable Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, for violating Article 41.3 of the HBL PSL 11 playing conditions, which makes it an offence to take any action which changes the condition of the ball," PCB said in an official statement.
However, the southpaw has denied the charges levelled against him. Match referee Roshan Mahanama will now conduct a hearing within the next 48 hours and then share his verdict in the matter. For the unversed, the incident took place at the start of the final over of the Kings' chase when they needed 14 runs off six balls.
Umpires changed the ball in final over
At this juncture, the on-field umpire Faisal Afridi took the ball for inspection after it exchanged hands between Lahore captain Shaheen Afridi and Fakhar Zaman. After a lengthy discussion, umpires, Faisal and Sharfuddoula, decided to bring in a replacement ball, deeming it to have been tampered with.
This was done as per clause 41.3 of the PSL playing conditions that allows the umpires to "make frequent and irregular inspections of the ball". The playing conditions say that "in addition, they shall immediately inspect the ball if they suspect anyone of attempting to change the condition of the ball".
The umpires also awarded five penalty runs to Karachi Kings who eventually scored the remaining nine runs in just three balls of the final over to win the low-scoring thriller.
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