Professional T20 cricket has produced plenty of strange incidents. A jersey turning a white ball pink and then red during a live match is not one anyone had seen before. During the Lahore versus Hyderabad fixture, players polishing the ball on Hyderabad’s maroon kit transferred enough dye to visibly discolour the ball under floodlights. Marnus Labuschagne, captaining and watching it happen in real time, immediately questioned the situation with the umpires. The match continued. The ball wasn’t replaced at the moment it should have been. Lahore won by 69 runs. The controversy outlasted the result.
Jersey Dye Turning a Ball Red
The specific practice that caused this incident is completely standard in T20 cricket; fielders polish the ball on their shirts to maintain shine and hardness. It works because cricket whites don’t transfer colour. Hyderabad’s maroon kit transferred colour. The dye absorbed into the ball’s surface changed its colour progressively through the innings, from white to pink to red depending on which part of the surface had been polished most. Under Gaddafi Stadium’s floodlights, a white ball is specifically chosen for visibility. A ball that progressively changes colour creates genuine visibility problems for batters judging pace and movement off the surface, and for fielders tracking the ball’s flight.
Labuschagne Called It Out Right Away
The credibility of this incident as a genuine match concern rather than a player complaint comes from who raised it. Marnus Labuschagne is an experienced international cricketer who has played professional cricket across multiple formats and multiple countries. His stated reaction, that he had never witnessed anything like this in professional cricket, is significant precisely because it removes the possibility that this was a normal occurrence being treated as exceptional. He raised it with the umpires. The umpires continued without immediate corrective action. The lack of a clear protocol for what to do when a ball changes colour mid-innings became apparent in real time.
Lahore Won the PSL 2026 Match Regardless
The scoreline from the PSL 2026 fixture reads as a comfortable Lahore victory regardless of the ball controversy. Lahore posted 199 for 4 in 20 overs with Fakhar Zaman contributing 53 runs. Hyderabad were bowled out for 130 in response, giving Lahore a 69-run win. Shaheen Shah Afridi led the bowling effectively. The match result isn’t disputed. What’s disputed is whether the chasing innings, where the discoloured ball was in use, were conducted under standard conditions that both teams signed up for when they took the field. A 69-run margin suggests Lahore were the better side. It doesn’t confirm that the conditions were equal.
The Standard Problem This Incident Exposed
The ball controversy is a symptom of a deeper quality control issue. Pre-match inspection protocols for equipment in professional cricket typically cover ball condition, pitch preparation, and boundary markings. Testing whether specific jersey materials from specific kit manufacturers transfer dye onto white balls under floodlight conditions is not a standard pre-match check, and it should have been the moment coloured kits became standard across franchise cricket. This isn’t a complicated problem to solve. It requires either testing kit materials before use or maintaining clear ball replacement protocols that give umpires authority to act immediately when ball condition deviates from the standard both teams agreed to play with.
If a jersey fails that test, the kit is modified before the tournament begins rather than causing a mid-match controversy after it. Alongside this, umpires need a clear protocol, written and circulated before the season starts, covering what constitutes grounds for ball replacement beyond the standard criteria of shape and shine loss. Both fixes cost less than the reputational damage that viral footage of a ball turning red during a live match produces.
Cricket never stops, and neither do we. Follow Six6slive for the latest news, in-depth features, and exciting updates from the world of cricket. Dive into the action now!