Helpful pitches will instil balance between bat and balls, suggests Anil Kumble
ICC Cricket Committee chief Anil Kumble has suggested that instead of using foreign substances on the cricket ball, the ICC could curate pitches accordingly to maintain the balance between bat and ball. Earlier, Kumble and his committee also recommended the use of sweat on the ball for shining.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, all cricket was suspended globally in mid-March. Since the talks of the resumption of live cricket started, the ICC recommended some major changes to the game. One of those was the ban on saliva, an integral element for the bowlers, for ball shining purposes. Earlier, the ICC Cricket Committee headed by Anil Kumble recommended the use of sweat for the same.
However, that would still leave the bowlers with a disadvantage, but Kumble has pressed that “helpful pitches’ have been thought to maintain the balance between bat and ball. The former India skipper, on Wednesday, added that it's not just pacers, but even spinners who could find themselves back in the game if they get "roughed up" surfaces. Meanwhile, Kumble batted against the use of artificial substances on the cricket ball as that has always been a controversial arena in the game, pointing at the infamous incidents like the ‘Sandpapergate’.
"Looking after the bowlers is not just about using an artificial substance on the ball. For the last so many years, we've been very stringent on what you use on the ball. In the recent past, the ICC came hard at a few players (for doctoring the ball) and Cricket Australia (CA) came much harder. All these years, we've been very stringent on what to use and what not to use on the ball. To do that now, because of Covid, is something that we unanimously agreed that we should not do," Kumble said at the FICCI Sports Committee webinar on 'Sporting Events: Embracing the new Normal', as quoted by TOI.
Kumble pressed on the fact that since cricket is a sport that heavily depends on the nature of pitches, it is advantageous over other sports especially amid these unprecedented circumstances. While that would be a primary in the long format of the game, Kumble added that the limited-overs formats could be covered with the use of sweat alone.
"Cricket is a very different sport. The advantage that cricket has over other sports is that there is an adjustable element in the pitch. We in the cricket committee believe that if you want a better balance between bat and the ball, you can still probably leave grass on the surface, or even rough it up and have two spinners. Let's get spinners back in the game in a Test. If it's an ODI or a T20, you're not really worried about the shining of the ball. Sweat can certainly take care of that. In a Test, why not get two spinners? We'd love to have two spinners playing in Australia or perhaps England, which doesn't happen often outside the subcontinent," he added.
"So, in cricket, you can play around with the surface and bring about the balance between bat and the ball. All of us are yearning to start the game and not really worry about saliva or sweat or what's the condition of the ball. So, our idea was just to kick-start cricket. Play the sport and I'm sure that things will fall into place."
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