On Wednesday, ICC Cricket Committee chairman, Anil Kumble asserted that despite their panel’s saliva ban, the balance between bat and ball can be maintained by “playing around” with the pitches. The Committee had recommended a ban on the use of saliva on the ball last month to control the rising threat of coronavirus in cricket but did not allow the use of artificial substances despite a discussion over it.

The move led to calls of an alternative to saliva from current and former players including India premier fast bowler, Jasprit Bumrah. Describing the same, Kumble said, “So in cricket, you have the surface that you can play around with and bring about a balance between the bat and ball.”

The bowlers will miss using saliva to shine the red cherry in Test cricket as it aids them in generating both conventional and reverse swing.

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Explaining that, Kumble said, “…you can still probably leave grass on the surface or even have two spinners, let’s get spinners back in the game in a Test because one day game or a T20 you are not really worried about shining the ball. It’s a Test match that we are talking about. And in a Test match why not get two spinners to play in Australia, two in England, which doesn’t happen often.”

Like he had said right after recommending the saliva ban as an interim measure, the cricket committee chief reiterated that allowing the use of artificial substances would have taken the creativity out of the game. However, Kumble went on to acknowledge that it would be hard for players to adjust to not using saliva.

Kumble said the committee’s recommendations focused more on resuming cricket as soon as well. Talking about the proposed Test series between England and West Indies next month, the former Indian skipper said gaining match fitness won’t be easy for the players who have been out of action for more than two months.

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Anil Kumble said, “The players will have to have some sort of a cushion, some sort of a backup in terms of loading up the body to be able to sustain Test match because bowling 30 overs for a bowler is not going to be easy and even for a batsman, you know, the muscles that you use when you’re batting is totally different. So, you need to fill it up and probably have a few friendly games before you get into an important Test match.”