NEW DELHI: Spin great and ICC Cricket Committee chairman Anil Kumble yesterday reiterated the panel’s reluctance to allow use of artificial substances on the ball despite the saliva ban, saying the balance between bat and ball can be maintained by “playing around” with the pitches.
The committee had recommended ban on use of saliva on the ball last month to deal with the rising threat of coronavirus but did not allow use of artificial substances despite a discussion over it.
The move led to calls of an alternative to saliva from current and former players including India premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah.
Balance
“So in cricket you have the surface that you can play around with and bring about a balance between the bat and ball,” said Kumble at a FICCI webinar.
The bowlers will miss using saliva the most in Test cricket as it aids them in generating both conventional and reverse swing. You can still probably leave grass on the surface or even have two spinners, let’s get spinners back in the game in a Test, because one-day game or a T20 you are not really worried about shining the ball. It’s the Test match that we are talking about,” said the former India captain.
“And in a Test match why not get two spinners to play in Australia, two in England, which doesn’t happen often.”
Like he had said right after recommending saliva ban as an interim measure, Kumble reiterated that allowing use of artificial substances would have taken the creativity out of the game.
“We can probably use some other substance on the ball. All these years we have been very, very stringent on what to use on or what not to use on the ball,” he said. “We’ve been very strict about substances that have been used on the ball. That was something that we felt, the creativity was something that we should not (tinker with),” he said.
Kumble, however, admitted that it would be hard for players to adjust to not using saliva.
“Although it is second nature in cricket, and that’s something that players will find it hard to manage. And that’s why I believe that at training, they’d like to start slowly.”