The umpires officiating the Railways-Bengal quarterfinal match here changed the ball after warning the visitors of tampering with it.
The ball was barely 15 overs old when the umpires — Pashchim Pathak and Suresh Sastri — issued the ‘final warning’ to Railways captain Kartik Murali before replacing it.
“We found some of their players picking at the ball and our coach (Ashok Malhotra) spoke to the match referee (Rajendra Jadeja),” said Bengal team manager Debabrata Das.
Railways coach Abhay Sharma denied his players had tampered with the ball. The Railways players, especially Kartik Murali, were heckled by a mob that apparently slipped in through the first ring of security around the stadium. — Principal Correspondent
