Former Indian fast bowler Ashish Nehra has said that using saliva on the ball while bowling is a must. There has been a lot of debate going on whether saliva use to shine the ball should be allowed or not in the wake of the corona outbreak where the importance of hygiene has taken center stage.
Ashish Nehra Says Without Using Saliva Or Sweat Ball Will Not Swing
There are also speculations that the International Cricket Council (ICC) is thinking about legalizing ball-tampering by using artificial substances in matches after corona ends.
Even Sachin Tendulkar during his interview on his birthday on Friday said that cricket rules might change drastically in post-corona days giving more importance to hygienic practices, referring to the use of saliva.
Nehra said that the ball will not swing if you do not apply saliva or sweat when the ball gets old. He also rejected the use of external substances like Vaseline instead of saliva or sweat.
He added that sweat and saliva are applied to make the ball heavier on one side to ensure reverse swing and Vaseline is not as effective as them as it can only give shine to the ball and will not even help in the conventional swing.
Vaseline Not As Effective As Saliva And Sweat
“Get one thing clear at the onset. The ball will not swing if you don’t apply sweat or saliva on the ball. That’s the basic necessity of swing bowling. The moment ball gets scuffed up from one side, sweat and saliva must be applied on the other side.
Now let’s understand why do you need saliva? Sweat is heavier than saliva but both are heavy enough to make one side of the ball heavier for reverse swing. Vaseline comes into the picture only after sweat and saliva, not before that.
“It is lighter and doesn’t even ensure conventional swing. It can keep the shine but doesn’t make the ball heavy,” the world cup-winning bowler said.
