Former India pacer Irfan Pathan is amongst the best exponents of swing bowling in Indian cricket. On Sunday the former India International shared his views on the effect of Saliva ban on the fast bowlers. He reckons that the saliva ban is a significant blow to bowlers. Irrfan also feels that cricket boards should even out the competition between bat and ball by preparing more bowling-friendly Test wickets.
Speaking with PTI, Pathan said, “You will have to make sure that pitches are more suitable to the bowlers than batsmen to negate the advantage (of not being able use saliva). If you are not able to shine the ball properly, you will not be able to cut the air because of scientific reasons. And if you are not able to swing it, the batsman will have it easy because nobody fears just pace, it is the combination of pace and swing that troubles them,” Pathan said.
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He added, “It (ban) will affect bowlers a lot in Test matches. It won’t be an issue in white-ball cricket as the bowlers anyway don’t shine the ball after the first few overs, they want to make it soft (to make strokeplay tougher for the batsman). But in red-ball cricket, whether you are a fast bowler or spinner, you need to shine the ball. Spinner relies on shine to drift the ball. That will be a big advantage for batsmen. The game will become even more batsmen friendly.”
The first Indian pacer to take a Test hat-trick continued by speaking the effect of moisture. He said, “If you look at England and Australia, there is not much grass but there is moisture and it helps bowlers. You need to make sure that something happens for the bowler. If not through the ball, then through the conditions. If the conditions are helpful for bowlers they don’t look for reverse swing, they go for conventional swing.”
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The 35-year-old also mentioned, “For reverse swing, if you can’t hide the ball, then the batsman knows which way the ball would come unless you are bowling 150 km plus and there are very few bowlers currently who generate that kind of pace.
concluded with, “You can still apply some sweat and swing the ball normally but the ban would more or less take the reverse swing out of the game,” Pathan added.
