Jasprit Bumrah Laments Ban On Saliva For Shining The Ball; Says The Usage Of Sweat Not Effective At All

Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah reckoned that the ban on the usage of saliva on a cricket ball turned out to be a major handicap for the bowlers on day 01 of the first Test against England since the sweat was not effective at all in shining the ball.

Indian bowlers toiled hard but with very little success on what has turned out to be a flat surface at the Chepauk.

“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 in hand, at that time,” Jasprit Bumrah said at the virtual media conference.

The ICC banned the usage of saliva on a cricket ball last year due to Covid-19 related issues but Bumrah said that saliva hasn’t proved to be an effective solution at all and that was one of the reasons why they were not able to maintain the shape of the ball.

“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,” Bumrah said.

“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,” he said

“But these are the rules and we have to make do with what we have at the moment,” said Bumrah.

England, on the back of a 200-run-stand between Dom Sibley and Joe Root and the ongoing 50+ partnership between the latter and Ben Stokes has asserted themselves into a position of dominance in Chennai.

Jasprit Bumrah, who has claimed two out of the three wickets India has managed thus far, lamented on the lack of any assistance that the pitch has offered thus far.

“This is my first match over here. The wicket was on the flatter side, not a lot of lateral movement was there. It was abrasive but we are not trying to complaint how the wicket is but trying to figure out what the solutions are. We are trying to look at options that are there in our hand and create as many chances as we can,” he said.

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