'They have mellowed significantly'- Umar Gul on effect of ball-tampering scandal on Australian players

Former Pakistan fast bowler Umar Gul believes that the ball-tampering scandal in 2018 has taken aggression out of Australian cricket.

Back in 2018, Australian cricket landed in a significant soup when then skipper Steve Smith admitted that he, along with the 'leadership group', which included then vice-captain David Warner had hatched a plan to tamper with the ball during the third Test in Cape Town, after rookie opener Cameron Bancroft was caught applying sandpaper on the red cherry during South Africa's second innings.

The scandal led to sweeping changes in the Australian cricket ecosystem. The integration of terms like 'elite honesty was one of the many things that CA and then head coach Justin Langer used to revive Aussie cricket's 'arrogant' image.

In the last four years since the incident, we have seen significant changes in the demeanour of Australian cricketers on the field. They have mellowed significantly, as was apparent during the recent tour of Pakistan, something which wasn't used to be the case back in the day.

Gul, who played against Australian players who struggled to get under the opposition player's skin with their "arrogance" and "attitude", echoed the same during a conversation with a local news channel.

He said, As a nation, we as Pakistanis are friendly by nature. However, we do adopt aggression depending on the opposition. If you look at Australia's history, they used to be extremely aggressive and arrogant," he said.

"Their cricketing board enforced a change in attitude following the ball-tampering incident which took place in South Africa. I have noticed that since then, Australia's demeanour on the pitch has changed quite a lot, and that isn't always a bad thing," he added.

"Back when I was playing, even Australian spinners used to carry out aggression with the same arrogance as the pacers did, and that has changed," Gul remarked.

However, Gull also proceeded to thank the Australian cricket team for completing the tour of Pakistan. He believes that this will now open up doors for other international sides to tour the Asian country.

"We should thank the Australian cricket team and their entire management for visiting Pakistan after 24 years. Their efforts will open doors to other international teams visiting Pakistan, and this is all-around good news for Pakistan and the supporters," he concluded.

Australia recently wrapped up their historic tour of Pakistan, where they won the Test series 1-0 and dropped the ODI rubber 1-2 before winning the one-off T20I.