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<\/p>\nLast Updated:July 31, 2025, 14:05 IST<\/p>\n
Indian officials claim England received preferential treatment in choosing match balls, arguing a crucial replacement ball at Lord’s was 30-35 overs old.<\/p>\n
India have repeatedly complained to the umpire over the ball losing shape too early. (AFP Photo)<\/p>\n
In yet another major controversy in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, the Indian team officials have reportedly raised concerns with the ICC match referee, claiming England have been given preferential treatment in choosing match balls during the ongoing Test series. India have also claimed that during a crucial juncture of the Lord\u2019s Test when the ball went out of shape, the replacement that was provided to the visiting team was 30-35 overs old, and it proved to be a game-changer.<\/p>\n
India had England on the ropes with Jasprit Bumrah picking up three wickets in 14 deliveries, including that of Ben Stokes, Joe Root, and Chris Woakes in the first innings of the 3rd Test. But the ball went out of shape after just 10 overs, and India asked for it to be changed.<\/p>\n
As per the ICC protocol, the replacement ball should also have been 10 overs old. However, it wasn\u2019t the case. From 271\/7, England ended up with 355-all out with Jamie Smith and Brydon Carse hitting half-centuries, and India eventually lost the contest by 22 runs on the final day.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt Lord\u2019s, after about 10 overs, the Dukes ball lost its shape, something that has been happening so often in the series. The ball failed to pass through the rings that the umpires carry on the field to check if the ball is uniformly spherical. However, the umpires didn\u2019t have a ball that was 10 overs old, so the Indian team at a crucial moment of the match got a ball that was 30-35 overs old,” The Indian Express quoted an Indian team official as saying.<\/p>\n
\u201cCheck the scoreboard to see how the game changed after that. The bowlers lost their swing, and England scored with ease,” the official added.<\/p>\n
India have also called for a change in the ICC rules as the teams aren\u2019t told about the age of the replacement ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you ask for a ball change, you aren\u2019t told about the age of the replacement you will be getting. At Lord\u2019s, we weren\u2019t told that the replacement would be 30 to 35 overs old. If we were told, we would have continued with the deformed ball that was used for 10 overs. The ICC needs to intervene. This rule needs to be changed,” he said.<\/p>\n
Preferential Treatment To England?<\/p>\n
As per the report, among the balls that have been in use for the ongoing series, the one with the darker shade of red has swung more. However, the official claims that at times, the fourth umpire has brought a box to the Indian dressing room which had just one ball with a darker shade of red. When India picked that ball, they were told it has been chosen by England as their second new ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not alleging anything, but when we asked for the darker ball, we were told that was the ball England had selected as their second new ball,” said the official.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe right thing would be to have this ball selection in the match referee\u2019s room and not in the dressing room with the local umpire as the only official present,” he added.<\/p>\n
Feroz Khan has been covering sports for over 12 years now and is currently working with Network18 as Principal Correspondent. He embarked on his journey in 2011 and has since acquired vast experience in digital…Read More<\/p>\n Feroz Khan has been covering sports for over 12 years now and is currently working with Network18 as Principal Correspondent. He embarked on his journey in 2011 and has since acquired vast experience in digital… Read More<\/p>\n view commentsFirst Published:News<\/a> cricket<\/a> India Given 30-Over-Old Replacement Ball After 10 Overs At Lord’s? Team Officials Approach ICC RefereeDisclaimer: Comments reflect users\u2019 views, not News18\u2019s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use<\/a> and Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last Updated:July 31, 2025, 14:05 IST Indian officials claim England received preferential treatment in choosing match balls, arguing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[10226,1721,16326,7681,9829,9981,12511,12930,6770,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-35392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-bcci","tag-cricket","tag-cricket-news","tag-england-cricket-team","tag-icc-world-test-championship","tag-india-cricket-team","tag-india-vs-england","tag-india-vs-england-2025","tag-jasprit-bumrah","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"authorimg\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/feroz-khan-bio-2023-11-6c2f93ba4c73f529939cc02bb184e2ac.jpeg\")
Feroz Khan<\/a><\/p>\n