New Delhi: How much a cricket ball should swing? This question has been the bone of contention for many teams. But the 'Mintgate' and 'Lollygate' controversies involving Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli have added new dimension to this controversy.


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For that matter of fact, the South African captain was charged by the ICC for ball-tampering even as cricketers themselves grapple with the legality of such a punishment, which many termed unwarranted. By the way, he was 'caught' on camera sucking a mint, then using his saliva to shine the ball during the second Australia-South Africa Test at Perth.


Luckily for the India captain, there was no such detrimental action from the game's global governing body. Yes, he was also 'caught' ball-tampering during the India-England Rajkot Test. He's been accused of allegedly using a similar method, with lollypop, to shine the ball.


Former England skipper Michael Vaughan found these '-gates' ludicrous and employed himself to do a scientific experiment to defend both the captains.


WATCH the experiment here:



As seen in the video, Vaughan asked Indian locals to bowl fruits like orange and apple after being thoroughly rubbing, of course, after applying saliva.


At times, the whole proceeding looked like a chapter from the seventeenth century "Gulliver's Travels” being played out.


But most importantly for all cricket, Vaughan was able to conclude that minted saliva had no effect on the swing of those fruits.