Probable ban on the usage of saliva as a ball-applicator to maintain shine amid COVID-19 pandemic made former cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Brett Lee discuss its subsequent effects on Test match cricket.
For Lee, the ex Aussie pacer, if bowlers aren't able to apply saliva and keep the ball going in proper shape, they'll find that "it will be really hard" for them to match-up to the batsmen.
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Agreeing to which, India batting legend Tendulkar suggested usage of a second new ball after 50 overs of a Test inning. Currently, in normal circumstances, the second new ball is made available to the fielding side only after the end of the 80th over.
"It's a tough call because it's something which we have done during our entire life," Lee said while speaking to Tendulkar in a video posted by '100MB'. "From the age of 8-9, we were told to use saliva to shine the ball. So, all of a sudden to be told something different like you cannot do that, I think it will be very hard to stop and would be very hard to police."
"If you don't sweat, how do you shine the ball in the absence of saliva. I don't think its fair for the bowlers and it's a disadvantage for them."
"I think the ICC needs to look into that. They can assist the bowlers by giving them something they can apply to shine the ball, something which everyone agrees upon," he added, with international cricket set to resume in July via the bio-secure England versus West Indies Test series.
"I am not talking about a green track where a team gets bowled out for 130 odd runs, but you need something for the fast bowlers."
The ICC has allowed sweat to be applied on the ball, considering it's a less transmissible form of droplets. Tendulkar, however, asked what if the game is played in excessively cold conditions?
"Allocate a certain amount of wax per inning to be used by a team says X grams," he further suggested a means of ball-shining.
Lee questioned the need for such a ban when players will anyway enter the bio-secure cricket ground having tested COVID-19 negative.
"Test the players say two hours prior to the game and then move with the usual things. If players are kept in a bubble, in a bio-secure environment where there are no chances of getting infected, why not go with the usual rules instead of coming with new rules?" he asked.
(Inputs from India Today)
