Two new balls from both ends can be used to solve ball shining conundrum, suggest Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh has suggested the use of two new balls from both ends to even out the contest between bat and ball in Test cricket after the ICC banned the usage of saliva for ball shining. According to the veteran off-spinner, one ball could be used for swing and the other for reverse swing.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was understood that the ICC Cricket Committee is finding it hard to allow ball shining with saliva when cricket resumes. On Tuesday, May 19, Committee chairman Anil Kumble declared that they have decided to allow the usage of sweat for ball shining purposes. In this regard, India international Harbhajan Singh suggested the use of two new balls from both ends- one for swing and the other for reverse. According to Harbhajan, in this way, a balance between bat and ball could be maintained in Test cricket.
"You can use two new balls from both ends. One ball you can use for reverse swing, and the other ball you can use for swing. I would say not to use those two balls for 90 overs, change them after 50 overs. As both balls will get old by 50 overs. Then there will be no shine and it won't come with sweat. The skipper should have an option to choose whether to use the new ball from one end, or both ends. But one ball should not be used more than 50 overs," Harbhajan told Sports Tak.
Harbhajan further explained the importance of saliva when it comes to ball shining and without its use, a bowler can be put to disadvantage. While using the saliva is the perfect and the best way to shine the ball, using sweat would not be the best choice since it won’t be able to shine the ball when it gets old.
"When the ball will get old, it will not shine with sweat, it will only make it heavier. Now saliva is thick and when we use it on the ball repeatedly, it helps the skin of the ball to shine. Sweat can wet the ball and make it heavy but it cannot shine the ball especially when it is old," he added.
"This is not a permanent solution I think. If you don't use saliva the bowler will go further away from the game. Especially in sub-continent conditions, you need to make the ball and you need saliva for that. We need to see what are the other options besides saliva which you can use on the ball to keep the contest between bat and ball even."
According to Harbhajan, it is not only going to affect pacers but spinners too as without the use of saliva, the ball won't remain in the air that much longer and will also not spin as much.
"If there is no shine on the ball, and if it is only heavy with sweat, the ball won't hang in the air or it won't dip and it won't spin also a lot. There will be problems in gripping also. Bowlers will be in more problem. Sweat can only make the ball shine when it is new. But not once it is old," he explained.
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