Australian captain Ricky Ponting says Shahid Afridi’s ball tampering could have cost Pakistan the fifth and last One-day international at the WACA Ground.
Afridi Sunday was charged with ball tampering and suspended for two Twenty20 internationals after being caught biting the ball during Australia’s thrilling two-wicket win over Pakistan.
The 29-year-old was the stand-in-skipper in the absence of injured skipper Mohammad Yousuf.
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Australia needed 35 runs off 30 balls with just three wickets remaining when Afridi was nabbed and the ball replaced.
Ponting said the incident would have unsettled Afridi and potentially cost Pakistan a chance of winning its first game on an otherwise dreadful tour.
“As soon as it happened, the umpires acted really well and changed the ball straight away,” Ponting was quoted as saying in the Australian media Monday.
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“I think he (Afridi) himself must have realised when they changed the ball, he had actually been caught in the act.
“He would have had all sorts of things going through his mind for the last couple of overs and as captain you have enough going through your head without worrying about things like that,” he said.