The veteran Indian fast bowler, Ishant Sharma reckons that the ban on saliva to shine the ball will tilt the game in batsmen’s favor even more and it needs to be ensured that the competition remains fair. On Tuesday, the ICC said that it has decided to ban the use of saliva to shine the ball in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ishant, who has played as many as 97 Test for India, reasoned that if the bowlers don’t shine the red ball, used in the longest format of the game, then it won’t swing helping batsmen.
During Star Sports show ‘Cricket Connected’, Ishant explained, “If we don’t shine the red ball, it doesn’t swing and if it doesn’t swing then it becomes really easy for the batsman. I think the competition should be fair and not a batsman dominated game.”
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Saliva is primarily used on a new ball while sweat is used on the old ball when reverse swing comes into play. The lanky pacer, who has 297 and 115 wickets in Tests and ODIs respectively, feels that bowlers will need to take special precautions to ensure that they don’t use saliva as it comes as a natural habit to them.
Ishant who plays for Delhi in domestic cricket, elaborated, “I feel that the most important thing will be avoiding the use of saliva on the ball and refraining from shining the ball. We will have to take special precautions for this as we are used to shining the ball, especially the red ball.”
Currently, India is going through a nationwide lockdown. Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus positive patients in India went past 298000 with almost 8600 people losing their lives on Friday, as per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
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Almost the entire is in a lockdown due to the scare of the ever-escalating situation concerning the World Health Organisation-recognized pandemic that is the Coronavirus. Everything- schools, colleges, airports, railway stations, gyms, sporting events, movies, offices- have been put under lockdown as the world continues to self-isolate in order to control the pandemic.
