Former India cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has extended support to ex-teammate and star pacer Mohammed Shami, who recently urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to revoke the ban on usage of saliva on the ball in order to bring reverse swing back into the limited-overs game. Amid the ongoing Champions Trophy, Shami urged the ICC to let bowlers use saliva on the ball once again so as to bring reverse swing back into the game. The use of saliva was banned by the ICC during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.
While the ICC had put a temporary ban on using saliva in May 2020, the governing body later turned it into a permanent ban in September.
“We are trying [to get reverse swing], but the usage of saliva on the ball is not allowed. We keep appealing that we should be allowed to use saliva so that we can bring reverse swing back into the game and it becomes interesting,” Shami was quoted as saying earlier this week.
Speaking on the same, Ashwin suggested that the ICC should not have a problem in revoking the ban of saliva usage, quoting their official report which claimed that it didn’t actually helped in reverse swing. However, he was also of the opinion that if the ICC does not revoke the ban, the players would have no choice but to “get on” with the ban.
“ICC released some papers after research showed that saliva did not aid reverse swing much, not putting saliva on the ball has not made a huge difference. I do not know how they did the research, but saliva should be allowed again if it is not a problem. Otherwise, cricketers have to get on with it,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
Earlier, New Zealand pacer and former fast bowler Vernon Philander had also backed Shami’s request to ICC.
Southee said on ESPN Cricinfo’s Match Day programme during the semifinal between New Zealand and South Africa that as a bowler, you would want some advantage.
“That was a rule brought around COVID-19 with the virus going around the world, but I think as a bowler, you want to have a slight advantage. We see the game going the way it is going and seeing sides score 362 and more often than not over 300 in this format. I think there needs to be something in the bowlers’ favour, and whether that’s a little bit of saliva, then yeah, I do not see why they could not afford to get that back in,” said Southee.
Philander also felt that saliva usage and reverse swing would have come in handy during the NZ-SA semifinal especially during the backend of NZ innings as they scored a massive 362/6, which Kiwis could not chase despite a century from David Miller and half-centuries from Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen.
“If we look at the state of that ball, I mean towards the back end, it was really scuffed up, and I think had you used the saliva [to polish one side of the ball], the element of the reverse swing might have come into play. So it certainly does play a part. You can get it to shine up and you use the elements to swing it a little longer,” said Philander.
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