Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi was caught on camera biting the ball during an ODI against Australia, one of the most bizarre ball-tampering incidents in cricket history.
Shahid Afridi was in many ways the id of Pakistan cricket — brilliant, unpredictable, incapable of the mundane. His record-breaking 37-ball ODI century in 1996, achieved as a teenager on debut, set the tone for a career defined by moments of extraordinary drama. By 2010 he was Pakistan's T20 captain and an elder statesman of the limited-overs game, but his personality had never mellowed into conventional captaincy sobriety.
The 2009-10 Pakistan tour of Australia was a tense affair, played against the backdrop of Pakistan's ongoing inability to host home Tests following the Lahore attack. The fifth ODI at Perth was the last match of the series, with Pakistan under pressure to win. In Australian conditions, where pace bowlers could extract significant reverse swing, the condition of the ball was a crucial tactical variable.
Ball tampering had been a recurring theme in Pakistani cricket for over a decade. The memory of the 2006 Oval controversy was still fresh, and every Pakistani bowling performance that generated exceptional movement was viewed through a slightly suspicious lens. Into this environment stepped Afridi — armed, apparently, with his teeth.
Pakistan were struggling to generate the movement they needed with an older ball in Perth's clear air. In the 35th over of Australia's innings, cameras positioned behind the bowler's arm caught Afridi in an unmistakable act: he raised the ball to his mouth and used his teeth to work on the seam, apparently seeking to create roughness that would help the ball reverse.
The footage was instantly cut to slow motion and the action was unambiguous. Afridi appeared to bite the ball twice, his teeth clearly making contact with the leather. The broadcast team replayed it multiple times and the stadium reaction — a mixture of shock and dark amusement — indicated everyone understood what they had seen.
After the match, Afridi was confronted by journalists and gave the response that would follow him forever: he said he had been "smelling" the ball. The explanation was so manifestly implausible that it crossed over from embarrassing denial into a kind of accidental comedy. Cricket Twitter (then still in its infancy) was already running wild.
In one of cricket's most extraordinary moments, Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi was caught on camera literally biting the cricket ball during the fifth ODI against Australia at Perth in February 2010. The footage showed Afridi putting the ball to his mouth and scraping his teeth along the seam, apparently trying to alter its condition.
When confronted about the incident, Afridi initially denied it, then gave the memorable quote that he was merely "smelling" the ball. This explanation was met with widespread disbelief and ridicule. The match referee found him guilty of ball tampering and he was banned for two T20 International matches.
The incident was consistent with Afridi's reputation as cricket's most unpredictable character. Known as "Boom Boom" for his explosive batting, Afridi had a long history of controversial moments on the field. While ball tampering is a serious offense, the sheer absurdity of biting a cricket ball turned the incident into one of the most shared and discussed moments in cricket history.
The two-match ban was considered lenient by many observers, but the embarrassment of being caught on camera was considered punishment enough. The incident added to the long list of ball-tampering controversies involving Pakistani cricketers and reinforced the perception, fair or unfair, that Pakistan's teams had a cultural problem with ball manipulation.
Television cameras capture Afridi putting the ball to his mouth and biting the seam in the 35th over of Australia's innings at Perth
Footage replayed in slow motion during the broadcast; action is unambiguous
Afridi denies biting the ball after the match, claiming he was 'smelling' it — a response met with widespread ridicule
Match referee Roshan Mahanama reviews footage and charges Afridi with ball tampering
Afridi found guilty and banned for two Twenty20 International matches
Incident goes viral globally, becoming one of the most-shared cricket clips of its era
1 February 2010
Fifth ODI between Australia and Pakistan begins at the WACA Ground in Perth
35th over
Television cameras capture Afridi biting the seam of the ball in an unambiguous act of ball tampering
Post-match
Afridi denies biting the ball, claiming he was 'smelling' it — response becomes one of cricket's most ridiculed quotes
2 February 2010
Match referee Roshan Mahanama charges Afridi with ball tampering
3 February 2010
Afridi found guilty and banned for two Twenty20 International matches
2019
Afridi admits in his autobiography that he had been ball tampering — confirming what everyone already knew
“I was smelling the ball. I was not biting it. I do not know what people are talking about.”
“The footage speaks for itself. He put the ball in his mouth and used his teeth on the seam. That is ball tampering and that is what he has been charged with.”
“I have seen a lot of things in 30 years of covering cricket. I have never seen someone bite a cricket ball. Until now.”
“Yes, I was doing ball tampering. It was wrong, and I should not have done it. But I was trying to help the team win.”
The two-match ban was served and Afridi returned to lead Pakistan in the T20 format. The punishment was relatively light — a reflection of the fact that the incident, while clearly a tampering offence, was almost farcically amateurish in execution and had not obviously affected the ball's behaviour in the match. Australia won the ODI comfortably.
The "smelling not biting" line became one of cricket's most quoted and mocked denials — referenced in commentary boxes, social media posts, and cricket pub quiz questions for years afterward. Afridi eventually acknowledged the obvious in his 2019 autobiography "Game Changer", admitting he had indeed been tampering with the ball. The belated honesty was appreciated by some and considered unnecessary by others who felt the whole affair was best left in the category of cricketing farce.
For Pakistan cricket's reputation, the incident was one more data point in a long-running narrative about ball manipulation. Fair or not, Pakistani teams were viewed through a lens of suspicion about reverse swing, and Afridi's actions — however bizarre — reinforced that narrative.
Banned for two T20 International matches. The incident became one of cricket's most memorable and bizarre moments.
The Afridi biting incident occupies a unique space in cricket controversy — it is simultaneously a genuine breach of the laws and a piece of unintentional comedy that has become part of the sport's folklore. It demonstrates how the omnipresence of high-definition television cameras had made cricket's field of play a completely transparent arena by 2010. Actions that might have gone unnoticed in a previous era were now caught in crystalline detail from multiple angles.
The incident is also a study in how public figures respond to being caught in an obvious untruth. Afridi's "smelling" explanation generated more ridicule than the original offence and has outlasted the incident itself in the public memory. It became a shorthand for implausible denial in sporting contexts. His eventual confession in 2019 was welcomed as belated honesty, but the image of him sniffing an imaginary ball will endure longer.
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