Sachin Tendulkar Bats For Saliva Usage In International Cricket
Sachin Tendulkar (Twitter)
India's legend and pride, Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar, recently, during an interview with India Today, expressed his concern regarding the use of saliva to shine the ball. He urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to reconsider its decision to ban the use of saliva.
Amid the Covid-19 strains that shook everyone around the world since its conception in 2020, the ICC decided to cease using saliva. And in exchange, it also introduced a new rule stating that the opposition would be granted a bonus of five additional runs for tampering with the ball with saliva.
Back in 2022, during the Nepal vs UAE match, the latter was caught using saliva to shine the ball which resulted in 5 runs being granted to Nepal.
During the conclave, Sachin said:
“I am not a medical expert, but saliva on the ball should be back. It has happened for over 100 years and nothing drastic has happened. Yes, the decision was rightly taken in 2020, but that is now behind us. Now, it is something that should be considered.”
After ICC placed the ban, Australian pacer Pat Cummins suggested using a wax-like substance to shine the ball instead of saliva.
Tendulkar, while talking about the necessity of the use of saliva to shine the new ball in place of sweat expressed that:
“If you think that is unhygienic, I have seen guys putting the ball under their armpit. Saliva is important when the ball is new. The texture of saliva is slightly different to your sweat. You make one side heavy and keep the other side light. The imbalance of the weight helps you swing the ball.”
At present, the 49-year-old is the only cricketer in the world to score 18000 runs and 15000 runs in ODIs and Tests, respectively. Additionally, he records the most man of the match titles in International cricket.
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