Faf du Plessis' mintgate similar to Rahul Dravid ball tampering case, says ICC CEO

The International Cricket Council (ICC) CEO Dave Richardson recently spoke at length about the recent mintgate issue. South African skipper Faf du Plessis was charged 100 per cent of his match fees following the Hobart Test. Video footages had emerged that saw du Plessis applying mint on the ball.

The ICC subsequently found Faf du Plessis guilty of ball tampering and punished him. The Proteas skipper was labelled to have breached clause 2.2.9 of ICC’s Code of Conduct. Now, the ICC CEO mentioned that there have been instances of similar ball tampering in the past. He related the case to Rahul Dravid’s ball tampering case back in 2004.

India played Zimbabwe in an ODI of the tri-series that involved Australia as the third team. During the Brisbane ODI, Dravid was seen rubbing the white ball with a cough lozenge. He was charged with fifty per cent of his match fees for his actions. He added that anyone violating the rules shall be punished.

“We’ve taken the approach that we will only really charge someone if it’s obviously being done for that particular purpose. There’re two examples in the past – one was Rahul Dravid where he actually took the sweet and rubbed it on the ball. You probably couldn’t get more obvious than that. And in our opinion, this instance (of du Plessis). So if anyone does something similar we will hopefully get to see it, treat it in exactly the same way we’ve treated Faf in this case,” quoted Dave Richardson.

Also read – Dale Steyn mocks Australia and ICC over ball tampering

Dave Richardson further mentioned that it is difficult to police and inspect the ball tampering cases. With players using lip ice and sunscreen, the substances are bound to get applied on the ball on occasions.

“This (ball-tampering) has always been an issue that’s been quite difficult to police. Even before we spoke about using mints and sweets, lip ice – and we’ve been using lip ice and sunscreen on our faces for years, we understand that inadvertently in shining the ball there’s a potential for it to get onto the ball. And for that reason, we’re not going to go around wildly accusing players of cheating and using the lip ice, sunscreen or sweets,” said the ICC CEO.

Later, Faf du Plessis challenged the fine imposed on him. The fine certainly did not go down well for the South African skipper. He was backed by his teammates and the South African board as well. Senior players like Hashim Amla had even mocked the case and tagged it a ‘joke’.

Dave Richardson remarked that such comments were not expected. He, however, added that challenging the fine is well within the rights of a player.

Also read – Nasser Hussain defends Kohli and Faf du Plessis in ball tampering allegations

“I think it’s fair to say I’m disappointed that they (South Africa) don’t respect that the laws are there. They are there and the process is not necessarily respected. I was disappointed in the initial comment that this is a joke. But full marks to them, subsequent to that they’ve acknowledged we attend the hearing, go through the process and follow it. So perhaps that initial reaction I thought was uncalled for, but subsequently, it’s within their rights (to appeal),” he concluded.