Madness and Shahid Afridi are usually inseparable, but could it be that the now-banned Pakistan skipper's byte is worse than his bite?
Adding a new chapter to the team's long tryst with the volatile ball-tampering issue, Afridi - in what is arguably the daftest act ever on a cricket field - was repeatedly caught on camera biting the red cherry during the final ODI against Australia in Perth.
Instead, Afridi - no prizes for guessing why he is called 'akhrot (walnut)' by his teammates - tried to justify the action in an interview to a Pakistani TV channel, leading some eminent former players to demand that he should be hauled up for bringing the game into disrepute.
Surprisingly, Afridi came up with a ridiculous defence that he was trying to "smell the ball", and even said: "There is no team in the world that doesn't tamper with the ball. My methods were wrong."
"Even (Pak) coach (Intikhab) Alam is furious. It's totally undesirable and unbecoming of a top-class professional cricketer. Afridi should be questioned for being so silly and immature. Cricket doesn't deserve such foolishness. Anybody who makes such harmful statements is no good to the game.
John Lever (1976): England's fiery left-arm pacer became famous for what is now known as the 'vaseline incident'. Indian captain Bishan Singh Bedi accused Lever of using vaseline to shine the ball in the third Test at Madras in 1976-77. Lever was cleared of wrongdoing but the stigma stuck.
Wasim Akram (1992): The birth of what is today known as 'reverse swing' has its origins in the British media accusing Akram and Waqar Younis of scuffing up one side of the ball with a soft drink bottle cap, even as England batsmen fell like ninepins. Again, no substantial evidence was found.
Michael Atherton (1994): In what became known as 'Dirtgate', TV cameras caught England captain Atherton reaching into his pocket for a substance and then rubbing it on the ball during a Lord's Test against SA. He denied it was tampering, claiming he had dirt in his pockets.
Waqar Younis (2000): The Pakistani was the first to be banned for this offence after being found guilty of lifting the seam during an ODI against SA in Colombo.
Sachin Tendulkar (2001): Tendulkar was controversially suspended for one game during India's 2001 tour of SA after match referee Mike Denness found him guilty in the second Test. TV cameras showed Tendulkar using his nails to clean the seam at Port Elizabeth.
Rahul Dravid (2004): Dravid was caught nonchalantly rubbing a half-eaten toffee on to one side of the ball in an ODI against Zimbabwe, but match referee Clive Lloyd wasn't so sweet: he accused the player of deliberate offence.
Pakistan (2006): The biggest tampering fiasco ever was seen during the Oval Test in 2006, which was declared forfeited by umpire Darrell Hair after Inzamam-ul Haq's Pakistan, accused of tampering in the afternoon, refused to take the field for the evening session as a mark of protest. The incident had wide ranging ramifications.
Stuart Broad (2010): England's Broad trod on the ball and James Anderson was caught lifting the seam in the Cape Town Test in January, but got away scot free.
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