Faf du Plessis remains wary of the imminent ban on saliva as a ball-applicator to maintain its shine in the post COVID-19 world. 

The former South Africa captain said it'll be very difficult to adjust for players like him, who are so "used to taking a bit of spit of my fingers" before coming in contact with the ball and passing it through. 

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The ICC Cricket Committee has proposed to discontinue the tradition of applying saliva on the ball. The recommendation is highly likely to be ratified by the ICC board in June for cricket's bio-secure resumption in the months thereafter. 

"I'm used to taking a bit of spit on my fingers before I catch the ball at slip. If you look at someone like Ricky Ponting, he has a big spit on his hands every time he tried to catch a ball," said Du Plessis on Star Sports' show 'Cricket Connected'. 

Gautam Gambhir, the former India opener, can understand why the ICC would want to travel that path due to the pandemic, but remains worried over how the ban would affect bowlers, who will definitely need an alternative for ball-shining.  

"It will be the hardest thing for the bowlers. The ICC have to come out with an alternative. Without shining the ball, I don't think it will be an even contest between bat and ball," Gambhir told IANS.  

"If they don't allow using saliva, they will have to come up with an alternative to help the bowlers to shine the ball. It's going to be very important otherwise there would be no fun watching cricket."

Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins has been quite vocal on the issue, reiterating the difficulties bowlers will face if they can't maintain the shine through the saliva. Indian batsman Shreyas Iyer, Cummins' opponent at the highest level, felt for the bowler and echoed his sentiments. 

"Definitely, he is talking as a bowler. From the bowler's perspective it is really important to swing the ball as I said," said Iyer. "It is important to maintain the ball and if that isn't there, then there would be no point of playing."

The deadly COVID-19 outbreak started in the month of December last year in the Chinese city of Wuhan and has since infected more than 49 lakh people, including over 3.2 lakh deaths. 

For cricket, this has meant indefinite suspension of all its immediate international and domestic fixtures, and heavy losses for all stakeholders. 

(Inputs from IANS)