Fresh Ball-Tampering Rumors Shake Up IPL 2025
IPL fans thought they'd seen it all, but a new controversy has rocked the tournament right after a high-voltage CSK vs MI game. A short, blurry video went viral on social media, throwing serious shade at Ruturaj Gaikwad and Khaleel Ahmed from CSK. The video isn't much—just a moment captured before Khaleel's bowling spell, where he digs into his pocket, pulls out something, and hands it subtly to Gaikwad. The Chennai skipper, without fuss, tucks it into his own pocket and the match goes on. But eagle-eyed fans on Twitter were quick to jump in, spinning wild theories about ball manipulation.
The internet lit up with accusations of ball-tampering. Threads analyzed the frame-by-frame exchange, comparing it to old cricketing scandals. Some users demanded that the IPL and BCCI step in immediately. Their argument? The integrity of the game takes a hit when even a whiff of ball-tampering pops up. And with CSK’s history—remember their suspension back in 2018?—it was enough to send echoes across the cricketing world. Has CSK learned from the past, or could they really be at it again?
Social Media Turns Up the Heat
Some people believe technology has made the game cleaner, but it’s also made every moment in the IPL a potential flashpoint. Footage spread like wildfire, with hashtags calling for bans and investigations. Users poured over the minute gestures of Gaikwad and Ahmed, asking if the object was sandpaper, tape, or something else entirely. But so far, the hard evidence just isn’t there—the video is ambiguous, and the actual match ball never clearly comes into contact with the object.
What makes all this more heated is that this all followed CSK’s solid 4-wicket win. Instead of talking about strong batting and nail-biting bowling, the cricket world found itself sucked back into an old, unwanted debate. People were quick to remind everyone about past IPL dirt, especially when the CSK badge is involved. Yet, the Mumbai Indians—supposedly the ‘victims’—haven’t filed any complaints, nor has the BCCI shown signs of launching an official probe. On-field umpires never stopped play, and nothing abnormal was seen on the scorecard. For now, it’s a storm driven by social media more than by official cricketing channels.
Cricket fans remember well-known ball-tampering incidents: the infamous ‘Sandpapergate’ with the Australian team, or the many times bowlers tried sneaky ways to scruff up the ball. Since then, everything from pockets to chewing gum has been under suspicion. The IPL’s high-definition broadcasts mean nothing escapes the public for long, and the tiniest suspicion can go viral within minutes.
So what happens next? Right now, it’s up in the air. Until MI or the BCCI decide to dig deeper, Gaikwad and Ahmed are left facing trial by internet. The match that should have gone down in memory as another close CSK win could—fairly or not—end up as just another chapter in cricket’s long history of controversy.
