Saliva ban has affected reverse swing: Bumrah

Jasprit Bumrah said the ban on the use of saliva to shine the ball, a restriction introduced in the wake of the pandemic, has made it difficult to get reverse swing.

On a first-day wicket that did not offer any help for the bowlers, the 27-year-old pacer looked the most threatening, picking up two wickets.

“When the wicket is on the flatter side, because of the new rules there are limited options to shine the ball,” said Bumrah after the day’s play.

Make one side heavy

“In India, the ball gets scuffed up and to make it reverse, you need to make one side heavy. With the sweat, it doesn’t serve the purpose. But these are the rules of the game right now, and we have to make do with what we have.”

Midway through the day’s play, the stitches of the seam began to protrude out, and Bumrah said it became hard for the bowlers once the ball lost its hardness.

“The ball did become soft after a while and when the wicket has less bounce, you have limited options,” he said.

Commenting on Joe Root’s unbeaten 128, Bumrah said, “He has come from Sri Lanka with good knocks behind him. While playing the spinners today, I noticed he was staying low, trying to read the trajectory quickly. Full credit to him, he played a very good innings.”