The premier Indian fast bowler, Jasprit Bumrah won’t miss the hugs and high-fives as part of a wicket celebration but he thinks their needs to be an alternative for applying saliva on the ball to shine the red cherry. The ICC Cricket Committee, led by former Indian skipper, Anil Kumble, recommended a ban on using saliva on the ball as an interim measure to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Committee has not allowed the use of artificial substances as a substitute.
Bumrah feels there ought to be an alternative for saliva. During a chat with Ian Bishop and Shaun Pollock on ICC’s video series ‘Inside Out’, he said, “The only thing that interests me is the saliva bit. I don’t know what guidelines we’ll have to follow when we come back, but I feel there should be an alternative.”
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He further added, “If the ball is not well maintained, it’s difficult for the bowlers. So we need some alternative for the bowlers to maintain the ball so that it can do something – maybe reverse in the end or conventional swing.”
When former West Indian fast bowler, Bishop pointed out that the conditions have been favorable to the fast bowlers over the last couple of years, Bumrah nodded in agreement.
The Indian pacer said, “In Test match cricket, yes. But in one-day cricket and T20 cricket… one-day cricket there are two new balls, so it hardly reverses at the end. We played in New Zealand, the ground (boundary) was 50 metres. So even if you are not looking to hit a six, it will go for six. Whenever you play, I’ve heard the batsmen – not in our team, everywhere – complaining the ball is swinging. But the ball is supposed to swing! We are not here just to give throwdowns, isn’t it?”
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The Ahmedabad-born pacer finds himself in an unusual position as he has not bowled for over a couple of months due to the lockdown imposed in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. When India will play next is not clear yet and he said he is not sure about how his body will hold up when he returns to action.
