India’s team management has raised concerns with the ICC match referee over the ball-change protocol during the ongoing Test series in England, particularly over an incident in the third Test at Lord’s earlier this month.
According to a report by The Indian Express, during England’s first innings at Lord’s, the second new ball lost its shape just 10 overs in. When the umpires inspected the ball and confirmed it no longer passed through the standard measuring rings, they offered a replacement but the ball provided was 30 to 35 overs old. Regulations require that the replacement be as close as possible in age to the original ball, but the umpires reportedly told the Indian team that no suitable 10-over-old ball was available.
The Indian camp felt the significantly older and softer substitute left their bowlers at a disadvantage, especially since the original Dukes ball had been offering considerable swing and seam. England eventually went on to win the Test by 22 runs to take a 2–1 series lead. The fourth Test ended in a tense draw, and the final match began on Thursday, 1 August.
“At Lord’s, after 10 overs, the Dukes ball lost its shape, something that’s happened frequently in this series,” an Indian team official told The Indian Express. “But instead of a similar-age replacement, we got a ball that was 30 to 35 overs old. Check the scoreboard to see how the match shifted after that. The bowlers lost their swing and England scored freely.”
India even appealed to the match referee to switch back to the out-of-shape ball once they learned how old the replacement was, but their request was denied.
“When you ask for a change, you aren’t told the age of the new ball. If we’d known it would be that old, we would have continued with the deformed one. The ICC needs to revisit this rule,” the official added.
The incident came at a pivotal point in the innings. Before the ball changed, Jasprit Bumrah was in top form, claiming three wickets in 14 deliveries. He bowled Ben Stokes with one that cut in sharply, removed Joe Root with a delivery that found the inside edge and shattered the stumps, and dismissed Chris Woakes next ball with one that straightened off the seam and was edged to the keeper.
According to ESPNcricinfo, the second new ball was averaging 1.869 degrees of swing and 0.579 degrees of seam. After the replacement, the swing dropped to 0.855 degrees, though the seam movement remained similar at 0.594 degrees.