The coronavirus pandemic has all but ensured that cricket will do away with one of its oldest practices — the use of saliva to polish the ball.
In the age of sanitisers and hand washes for saving oneself from COVID-19, the use of saliva on the ball carries dangers on multiple fronts.
It is learnt that the ICC and the various Boards are strongly contemplating banning the administration of saliva on the ball.
All that the fielders and the bowlers might be allowed to do would be to polish the ball on their trousers.
The banning of saliva will adversely impact reverse swing where one side of the sphere has to be kept shiny, and the other rough.
And teams will be apprehensive of ‘working’ on the ball as they normally do. The bowlers will find their job more challenging. Coronavirus could change the way we look at and play cricket.
