KOLKATA, MARCH 15 On the eve of his 100th Test match, West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor revealed a novel way to check ball-tampering: by smelling the ball.

‘‘I just smell the ball’’, he told The Indian Express today. ‘‘It is the easiest way to check if someone has tampered with the ball. If one side smells different from the other you can tell that someone has worked on it. You can tell that someone has applied something on it.’’

Bucknor’s statement is significant for Indian cricket fans, who recall how Rahul Dravid was charged with ball-tampering after spitting a sweet lozenge on the ball during India’s tour of Australia. Match referee Clive Lloyd fined Dravid fifty percent of his match fees for that transgression.

When Dravid walked out to bat in the next match against Australia, Steve Bucknor was shown on TV picking up the ball and — all the while smiling his half-smile — inspecting it closely after smelling it a couple of times.

It was then seen as an ungracious gesture from an umpire but Bucknor today sought to explain his action. ‘‘The TV cameras are to blame. They focussed on Dravid walking out to bat at the same time they cut to me smelling the ball. It was a mere coincidence. I was not trying to tease Dravid. He is a fine man and I would never do anything to mock him’’, he said.

India’s cricketers have had a rocky relationship with Bucknor, one that turned sour during the tour of Australia in 2003-04. The Test series began with Tendulkar being given out LBW in the very first innings; he then pulled up Parthiv for over-appealing (wagging his finger like a headmaster); finally, a series of decisions that went against India in the closely-contested Sydney Test.

For that Test, which ended in a draw, Sourav Ganguly gave Bucknor a very poor rating for his performance. His captain’s report to the International Cricket Committee rated Bucknor’s umpiring as very poor for his on-field conduct and his decision-making ability.

Commenting on that fracas, Bucknor said that he had learnt to live with his mistakes and there was little he could do to change them.

‘‘But I have no regrets in my career’’, he said. ‘‘Each of the 99 Tests so far has taught me something new. I still believe that I am a student of the game and am not averse to accepting my mistakes.’’