Former Pakistan leg-spinner Abdul Qadir has stirred the cricketing establishment of the country by suggesting that Pakistan's pace bowlers had a long history of ball tampering, a remark which has cost him his job as a guest expert commentator in state-owned Pakistan television.

"The pace bowlers' success often come from working on the ball," Qadir, the most successful Pakistani spinner, said, triggering an old debate over ball tampering.

The tweaker who represented Pakistan in Test matches for 13 years between 1977 and 1990 to pick 236 wickets, claimed that increased scrutiny by umpires and television cameras had affected the pace bowlers' success in recent times, including the current Test series against traditional rivals India.

"There are so many cameras focusing on every move of the players, particularly the bowlers, that it's become virtually impossible to work on the ball".

Qadir's comments were made last night on PTV where the programme's moderator asked him why the pace duo of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami had not been effective against Indian batsmen.

The former spinner responded by saying that it was "well known that the ball has always been made up by Pakistani  bowlers, but it hasn't been possible this time."

"Even against Bangladesh last year, the fast bowlers were unsuccessful to an extent," he said.

Soon after making his claims, Qadir was dropped from the programme and told that he was no longer wanted as a guest.