India pacer Deepak Chahar believes that the ban on using saliva to shine the ball won’t affect white-ball cricket much. However, he admitted that for bowlers in Test cricket it would be a real challenge to keep the ball in the right shape without applying saliva.
“I feel white-ball cricket won’t get too affected by the saliva ban because even though we keep shining it, the ball does stop swinging after a bit. In red-ball cricket, things will be a little difficult and more so when we are playing outside India. I think in white-ball cricket it will not matter that much, but the challenge here will be remaining conscious because it is second-nature to use saliva when you have the ball in hand,” Chahar was quoted as saying by IANS.
“Yes, in ODIs, sometimes if the conditions are good, we would get swing for an additional few overs. That advantage will go away. But I guess when it comes to red-ball cricket, I feel maybe a solution needs to be worked out,” he added.
ICC during its meeting in April had discussed the use of artificial substances like vaseline to shine the ball in order to keep the players away from using saliva and sweat to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Meanwhile, the ICC Cricket Committee, led by former Indian captain Anil Kumble, has already suggested the international governing body of cricket to ban the use of saliva on the ball.
Earlier, Chahar’s national teammate Jasprit Bumrah had urged for an alternative substance and said that the inability to shine the ball would make the game more favoured for the batsmen.
“I was not much of a hugger anyway! And not a high-five person as well, so that doesn’t trouble me a lot. The only thing that interests me is the saliva bit,” said Bumrah as quoted by IANS.
“I don’t know what guidelines we’ll have to follow when we come back, but I feel there should be an alternative. If the ball is not well maintained, it’s difficult for the bowlers.
“The grounds are getting shorter and shorter, the wickets are becoming flatter and flatter. So we need something, some alternative for the bowlers to maintain the ball so that it can do something – maybe reverse in the end or conventional swing,” he added.