India international Ishant Sharma feels that the ICCтАЩs ban on using saliva to shine the ball is bound the make the game, even more, batsman dominated and special precautions have to be taken to compensate the ban.
On Tuesday, cricketтАЩs apex body had approved some of the changes in the rules of the game and the playing regulations, in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, which included the ban on the use of saliva to shine the ball and allowing home umpires in international series.
тАЬI feel that the most important thing will be avoiding the use of saliva on the ball and refraining from shining the ball,тАЭ said Ishant Sharma on Star Sports show Cricket Connected.
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тАЬWe will have to take special precautions for this as we are used to shining the ball, especially the red ball. If we donтАЩt shine the red ball, it doesnтАЩt swing and if it doesnтАЩt swing then it becomes really easy for the batsman. I think the competition should be fair and not a batsman dominated game.тАЭ
Not only Ishant, pacers, and coaches, in general, have opined on ICC to find alternate ways to counter this saliva ban.
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Legendary Pakistan paceman Wasim Akram warned Wednesday that bowlers would become "robots" after cricket officials temporarily banned shining the ball with saliva as a coronavirus precaution.
Former India pacer Irfan Pathan reckoned that the ban is a significant blow to bowlers and authorities should ensure the preparation of bowling-friendly Test wickets to prevent complete domination of the game by the batsmen.
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India's bowling coach Bharath Arun said he won't mind an "external substance" at its expense if it is used across teams.
Former South Africa all-rounder and current Afghanistan coach Lance Klusener said he has no issues with the ban, but wants the fielding team to be given wax in limited quantity to ensure a balance between bat and ball.