There is a lot of anticipation around India’s tour Down Under later this year, where Virat Kohli and company will face Australia in four Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is.
Just like the fans, former speedster Brett Lee is particularly excited for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. As per Lee, Australia’s pace trio – Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood – would hold the key against India and he is keen to figure out how much the kookaburra ball swings without saliva.
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With ICC banning the practice of saliva to shine balls amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Lee called for the use of “artificial substance” to maintain the balance between bat and ball.
“Playing at home obviously gives you that advantage, but that said I know that India will pack a full strength squad to tour Australia. I still believe if Australia is to win our bowlers hold the key,” Lee told PTI in an exclusive interview.
The kookaburra seam is not as pronounced as Dukes or SG Tests balls and the flattening of seam coupled with ban on saliva will make it harder for bowlers of both teams.
“It will definitely change the way the game is played so we don’t want to make it even harder for bowlers even more than it is currently is,” he added.
Team India enjoyed the No. 1 ranking in Test cricket for more than three years and the main reason behind their success was the performances of the fast bowling unit.
The pace attack, featuring Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Umesh Yadav, did a fantastic job in both home and away conditions.
“India have got some extremely good pace bowlers that are capable of knocking over any top order. Once again I think it comes down to how the ball will swing or not swing in different conditions (Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney),” Lee stated.
And that is precisely the reason Brett Lee feels there should be an alternative to polish the ball.
“Essentially you do need saliva to keep the new ball shiny and also the old ball to reverse swing. Usually (fast bowlers) use less saliva on a new ball compared to the old one. Maybe they need to come up with some artificial substance that they can use,” the holder of 310 Test wickets asserted.
(With PTI inputs)
