Ryan Sidebottom recalls the infamous Jellybean incident 


image-l8kfrcndZaheer Khan (PC: Twitter)

Former England pacer Ryan Sidebottom opened up on the Jellybean incident that took place in the match between England and India in Nottingham in 2007.

The Trent Bridge Test of 2007, one of India's most famous overseas Test wins, will forever be associated with the incident taking the spotlight. Right from the beginning, the game had not gone in favour of the hosts at Trent Bridge, who were dismissed for 198 with Alastair Cook top-scoring with 43 in the first innings. 

In the second innings of the Test match, the wicket had considerably flattened out, and the visiting batters made the most of the conditions on offer and posted 481 on the board. 

India's best bowler in that series, Zaheer Khan walked out to bat at 464-7 in India's first innings and England made attempts to unsettle him by tossing jellybeans onto the wicket. As soon as Zaheer noticed it, he pointed his bat to jellybeans that had been allegedly thrown on the wicket by the English slip cordon. The incident enraged Zaheer, who took a five-wicket haul in the third innings to help his team take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Sidebottom, who took part in that memorable Test match recalled that incident and disclosed the details of what happened on the field. The ex-English left-arm seamer said the home side intentionally put the jellybeans on the wicket to affect the Indian team's momentum.

"Sometimes you know Test cricket and cricket can be really tough and difficult and sometimes you think, life is too short, you just have to enjoy with a smile on your face. In the jellybean incident, India were on top in that game and they were outplaying us at that time. We just thought to put jellybean on that wicket, it was nothing, it was just a little bit of banter. The English press blew it out of proportion but you know, we all want to have a little bit of fun and enjoy what you are doing."


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