Haris Rauf Accused of Ball Tampering During USA vs PAK

2 min read

During the T20 World Cup play at Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas on Thursday, former South Africa cricketer and member of the USA cricket team Rusty Theron accused Pakistan fast bowler Haris Rauf of ball tampering. Before Pakistan’s devastating defeat to the co-hosts in a Group A match that was decided by Super Over, Theron made this startling post.

With the host team at 94 for one, Pakistan changed the ball before the 13th over began. After skipper Monank Patel hit back-to-back fours and sixes off Shaheen Afridi in the same over, Haris removed Andries Gous with the first ball of the following over, and the USA kept up their momentum. The delivery struck the top of off stump with a solid length ball that had a touch of reverse swing.

Theron accuses Haris of Tampering with the Ball

Shortly after the dismissal, Theron accused Haris of using his fingernail to scrape the newly-changed ball, which he believed caused the reverse swing. He brought this to the notice of the ICC on X, the old name for Twitter.

“Are we going to pretend Pakistan isn’t scratching the hell out of this freshly changed ball?” he tweeted at the @ICC. Is the ball that was just changed two overs ago being reversed? At the top of his mark, Harris Rauf is actually able to be seen running his fingernail over the ball. #PakvsUSA @usacricket.

@ICC are we just going to pretend Pakistan aren't scratching the hell out of this freshly changed ball? Reversing the ball that's just been changed 2 overs ago? You can literally see Harris Rauf running his thumb nail over the ball at the top of his mark. @usacricket #PakvsUSA
— Rusty Theron (@RustyTheron) June 6, 2024

The ICC has not yet released an official comment on this subject.

The USA kept their composure to score 14 runs in the final over, even the score despite the wicket and the excellent bowling of Naseem Shah and Mohammad Amir in the dying overs, when their plan was to just execute yorkers. After Haris made two mistakes in his execution, Aaron Jones punished him with a six over cow corner and Nitish Kumar with a four in the last ball.

After that, Amir put on an absolute horror show in the Super Over, as Pakistan let up 18 runs, seven of which came from extras as a result of three wides and some careless fielding. While dismissing Iftikhar Ahmed, Saurabh Netravalkar successfully defended the total, helping the USA record their greatest-ever international victory.