Jadeja fined for ointment, cleared of tampering

Ravindra Jadeja has been punished by the International Cricket Council for his use of an ointment on his bowling hand, but cleared of tampering with the ball during the Border Gavaskar Trophy series opener in Nagpur.

Jadeja's application of a cream on his left hand during Australia's first innings came under the microscope after the incident was aired on the television broadcast and attracted the attention of match officials.

The left-arm spinner, who took seven wickets for the match and struck a crucial half-century, was fined a quarter of his match fee by the ICC. Jadeja admitted the offence and accepted the sanction.

But match referee Andy Pycroft deemed that the 33-year-old had not used the substance on the ball.

"In reaching his decision to sanction the player … the match referee was satisfied that the cream was applied to the finger purely for medical purposes," read an ICC statement issued after India's innings-and-132-run win.

"The cream was not applied as an artificial substance to the ball and consequently, it did not change the condition of the ball, which would have been in breach of … the ICC playing conditions."

Indian team management explained to the ICC that Jadeja, who took the substance from Mohammad Siraj's palm, was using the cream to treat "swelling on the index finger of his bowling hand".

It was his failure to ask permission from the umpires that landed him in hot water.

The incident had taken place when Australia were 5-120.

Former Australia captain Michael Clarke had said it was understandable Jadeja had needed cream for his finger.

"He’s bowling so much, so he’s probably got a blister or cut on that finger," Clarke told Big Sports Breakfast radio. "What he should have done there, he should have given the ball to the umpire and stood in front of the umpire while he was putting it on his finger.

"If he chucks the ball to the umpire and does that, I don’t think there’s any comment made about that. It’s just the perception."

Jadeja took 5-47 in the innings and went on to earn player-of-the-match honours after hitting 70 with the bat and then adding two more wickets to help rout Australia for 91, their lowest ever score in India.

The home side's spinners collected 16 wickets between them.

"It's like captaining (Pat) Cummins, (Josh) Hazlewood and (Mitchell) Starc in Australia," captain Rohit Sharma said of India's spin trio of Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel.

"When you have quality of Axar, Jadeja, and Ash, having played in India for so many years, playing on pitches like these, it’s always a blessing.

"The conditions are there, yes, but you need to exploit them as well and conditions are for both teams. Conditions are there for everyone but what they extract from those conditions make them really, really special.

"They have played on these pitches a lot and they know which areas to hit, how to keep applying that pressure."

Border-Gavaskar Qantas Tour of India 2023

February 9-13: India won by an innings and 132 runs

February 17-21: Second Test, Delhi, 3pm AEDT

March 1-5: Third Test, Dharamsala, 3pm AEDT

March 9-13: Fourth Test, Ahmedabad, 3pm AEDT

All matches will be broadcast live and exclusive on Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner

India squad: (for the first two Tests) Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat, Ishan Kishan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav