India’s most successful bowler on day one, of the 1st Test against England, Jasprit Bumrah has highlighted the pitfalls of the saliva ban that was imposed by the ICC in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ace pacer Bumrah, on Friday, said that it becomes difficult for the bowling team to maintain the ball with just sweat as it loses shine and becomes softer along the day.
Batting first in Chennai, England took charge on the opening day of the first Test with captain Joe Root scoring a hundred in his 100th Test, taking at the score to 263/3 at stumps.
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“The ball did become soft after a while and the wicket is on flatter side with the bounce being less. You are left with limited options (to shine ball). We are trying to figure out what we can do with the limited things on hand, at that time,” Bumrah said at the virtual media conference.
“Yes, it becomes difficult when the ball becomes soft and doesn’t shine really well because of new COVID-19 rules, we can’t use saliva, very difficult during that time to maintain the ball,” he added.
Bumrah explained that sweat being lighter than saliva is not at all a good option to prepare the ball for reverse swing.
“In India, the ball gets scuffed up easily. So to make the ball heavy, you have to shine one side sometimes, with sweat and it doesn’t really serve the purpose. You can’t make one side heavy with sweat and it doesn’t really work that way. But these are the rules and we have to make do with what we have at the moment,” said Bumrah.