Former Pakistan bowler Waqar Younis on Saturday said that reverse swing could be achieved without cheating. Regarded widely as one of international cricket's most destructive new-ball bowlers and one of the greatest exponents of both conventional and reverse swing, Waqar said, "Of course, reverse swing can be achieved without cheating. Nowadays most of the bowlers do that and get wickets and help their teams win."

Waqar's comments come days after the ball-tampering scandal came to the fore which saw Australian cricketers Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft being banned. Smith had to step down as Australia captain and Warner as vice-captain after they orchestrated ball-tampering through batsman Cameron Bancroft in the Cape Town Test against South Africa last week. Bancroft was found to have used a piece of sandpaper in an attempt to alter the condition of the ball while on the field to create swing for Australia's bowlers and deceive the South African batsmen. 

Waqar also stressed on the need for the usage of only one brand of cricket ball in international cricket, saying it would lead to a fairer contest. "Why do we use different brand of balls in different countries?" Waqar asked. "In my opinion the Duke ball is the best and the SG comes close to it. They are the best balls for swing so in order to have uniformity and better swing these balls should be used everywhere. This will help bowlers and this will also produce better batsmen. We should solve the problem and not indulge in the blame game", he added.