Ravindra Jadeja fined: What exactly happened in the Nagpur Test against Australia

🚨 JUST IN: India star handed penalty for ICC Code of Conduct charge during first Test against Australia!#WTC23 | #INDvAUS | Details 👇

— ICC (@ICC) February 11, 2023

The incident this offence pertained to occurred during the 46th over of Australia’s first innings on Thursday (February 9), where Jadeja was seen applying a soothing cream to his index finger. In the video footage, the left-arm spinner took a substance from Mohammed Siraj’s palm and appeared to rub it onto the index finger of his left hand.

A video clip of the footage had gone viral on social media, with some, including from the Australian media, accusing Jadeja of ball-tampering. However, the match referee did not find Jadeja guilty of ball-tampering, which would have invited more severe sanctions.

“Interesting.”

A debate has erupted after vision of a questionable moment was spotted during the first innings of the first Test between Australia and India. #INDvAUS https://t.co/APu2CrP3hI

— Fox Cricket (@FoxCricket) February 9, 2023

Ball tampering is a sensitive issue in cricket, often devolving into debates around morality and the ‘Spirit of Cricket’. Australia was at the heart of one of cricket’s biggest ball tampering scandals ever in 2018 when Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were found guilty and slapped with lengthy bans from Cricket Australia.

What is ball tampering?

The condition of the cricket ball has a massive impact on the game of cricket, specifically, on how the ball behaves when bowled. An old roughed-up ball can turn a lot more whereas a new ball is likely to swing.

While in the course of an innings, the ball’s condition changes naturally as it experiences wear and tear, sometimes, the bowling team plays a more direct role to alter the condition of the ball, aka engages in ball tampering.

To be clear, bowling teams are constantly trying to control the condition of the ball. For instance, visuals of cricketers rubbing the ball on their trousers are a common site in cricket. In wet conditions, cricketers also use towels to dry the ball. These are all practices that do qualitatively change the nature of the ball. But the ICC draws a line on what a bowler/fielder can do and what they cannot.

According to Article 41.3 of the World Test Championship Playing Conditions, “It is an offence for any player to take any action which changes the condition of the ball.” However, a fielder may “polish the ball on his/her clothing provided that no artificial substance is used”, “remove mud from the ball under the supervision of an umpire”, and “dry a wet ball on a piece of cloth that has been approved by the umpires”.

Anything outside the purview that is explicitly stated above can be considered to be ball tampering. For instance, during the Sandpapergate scandal, the camera had caught Cameron Bancroft rubbing the ball with a tiny piece of sandpaper.

So why were Jadeja’s actions not considered tampering?

An age old method of ball tampering is to rub a lotion/lip balm on the ball. As far back as 1977, England bowler John Lever was accused of applying Vaseline on one side of the ball to make it swing better during the third Test against India in Chennai. More recently, England spinner Monty Panesar admitted to using this method during his career in his autobiography “The Full Monty”.

Thus, when visuals of Ravindra Jadeja applying some sort of a cream to his spinning finger emerged on Thursday, many were quick to accuse him of ball tampering.

However, according to ICC’s statement, this was not the case. “The Match Referee was satisfied that the cream was applied to the finger purely for medical purposes… (not) as an artificial substance to the ball and consequently, it did not change the condition of the ball”, the ICC statement said.

Then why was Jadeja fined?

According to the ICC, Ravindra Jadeja was found to have breached “Article 2.20 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to displaying conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game”.

Match referee Andrew Pycroft found that while Jadeja was applying the cream to a swelling on the index finger of his bowling hand, he did so without informing the umpires.

Article 2.20 is intended to cover “all types of conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game and which is not specifically and adequately covered by the specific offences set out elsewhere in this Code of Conduct”. An example of an offence under Article 2.20 is the use of an illegal bat.

In Jadeja’s case, while he had a legitimate medical reason to apply the cream, the match referee ruled that he should have informed the on field umpires before doing so.

What is a Level 1 offence that Jadeja was slapped with?

According to ICC rules, there are four levels of offences, with Level 1 being the least serious and Level 4 being the most.

Under Article 2.20, the match referee has the power to charge a player with any of these four levels of offences. “When assessing the seriousness of the offence, the context of the particular situation, and whether it was deliberate, reckless, negligent, avoidable and/or accidental, shall be considered”, says the ICC Code of Conduct.

Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand, a maximum penalty of 50 per cent of a player’s match fee, and one or two demerit points.

(Source: ICC Code of Conduct for Cricketers and Player Support Personnel)

Due to the relatively benign nature of Jadeja’s offence, he was slapped with a fine of 25 per cent of his match fee and 1 demerit point.

First introduced in September 2016, demerit points punish cricketers for various offences under ICC’s Code of Conduct, occurring in a certain time frame. Any player who collects four demerit points within 24 months is punished with a one Test or two white-ball matches ban. Repeat offenders face double the penalty if they accumulate eight demerit points within 24 months.