As the International Cricket Council (ICC) decided to ban the use of saliva to polish the cricket balls because of the COVID-19 fears, Irfan Pathan, former India pacer, said it is a huge blow to the bowlers, but now the authorities should come out with a solution to ensure the balance between bat and ball.
Considering the current situation across the globe, the ICC banned the use of saliva to shine the ball because of the danger of transmitting COVID-19 in order to ensure the safety of players and officials and others associated with the game when the game resumes.
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Pathan believes that the saliva-ban is a huge disadvantage for the seamers and fast-bowlers, and especially, in Test cricket, therefore the authorities should now prepare the bowling-friendly wickets to negate the undue advantage to the batsmen in the aftermath of the Coronavirus pandemic.
As per PTI, Pathan stated: “You will have to make sure that pitches are more suitable to the bowlers than batsmen to negate the advantage (of not being able to use saliva). If you are not able to shine the ball properly, you will not be able to cut the air.”
The former all-rounder further explained, “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. 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.”
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Meanwhile, Pathan, who is considered as one of the best exponents of swing bowling in Indian cricket, said he would prefer moisture more than grass on the pitch.
The 35-year-old further added, “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.”
Pathan signed off by saying, “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 kmph plus and there are very few bowlers currently who generate that kind of pace. 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.”
(With PTI Inputs)
