Allegation!

I want to know if anyone, absolutely anyone else caught Vettori with that tiny pot of Vaseline or lip balm that he dipped into before the 63rd over, applied some to his lips, took the ball from Bond, looked around, caught himself on screen and turned around to hide the view, ball and vaseline pot in hand.

My mother was watching the match too, and she was outraged. Pakistan were in a dominant position at the moment, and she was furious how Vettori could sink so low. And wouldn't you know it, the next thing Umar Akmal gets out on a reverse-swinging delivery after a very long stand with his elder brother. And the collapse started. And honestly, who is to suspect a Pakistani batting collapse, really?

I suddenly felt quite stupid -- I had been trying to convince my Mum before the wicket that there were too many cameras around and Vettori's not that reckless. I even went on to say it might have been legal to shine the ball this way, something I probably didn't know about, I told her. So right after the match, I caught my friend Hissan online -- someone I trust as authoritative on all matters cricket. According to him, it's not legal at all. He couldn't comment with said authority further on the matter, however, since he didn't catch it on his intermittent video-stream online.

Hissan suggests it may have been my "paranoia" that drew up the perception. My response is that we caught this while Pakistan were dominating the match, and not a post-hoc analysis of what happened.

I'm not sure this part of the match would make it to the highlights or any clips that may become available on YouTube. I'll keep looking, and post it if I find it.