Wasim Jaffer says disallowing use of saliva will make life more difficult for bowlers, calls for more balance between bat and ball

Former India opener Wasim Jaffer feels that the ICC guidelines banning the use of saliva to shine the ball to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic would make the life of bowlers difficult and urged the world body to ensure a balance between bat and ball. The ICC Cricket Committee, led by former India captain Anil Kumble, last month recommended a ban on using saliva on the ball as an interim measure to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. [caption id=“attachment_5597521” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer. PTI[/caption] “The ICC has come up with a solution of not using the saliva, or things like that. For bowlers it is going to be hard to not use saliva, and not shine the ball. Then I think, it is going to be lot easier for batsmen,” Jaffer said during a chat with his employers Indian Oil on Instagram. “Again, ICC will have to make sure that the balance remains pretty equal for batsmen and bowlers and you don’t want to make it one-sided for anyone of them,” added the veteran Mumbaikar, who has numerous First-Class records to his name. The 42-year-old suggested the use of two new balls in Test matches and that the ICC curators would have to prepare pitches which do not overtly favour either the batsmen or the bowlers. “I suggested that in Test match you could use two new balls, that is one thing that can happen. Probably the curators can make a wicket which is even for both batsmen and bowlers, not too batting or bowling friendly,” added Jaffer, who announced his retirement from international and First-Class cricket in March. He also felt that it will be hard for the players to always keep the new rules in mind, especially in an intense game. “While this pandemic is around, it is never going to be easy to predict on what is going to happen (regarding the game),” he said. Giving example of two batsmen chatting in between overs, Jaffer said they will find it difficult to follow the new rules. “It will be interesting. Cricket is not a very physical sport, but still in the dressing room, you sit very close, while you are going to field you make a huddle and the captain talks, gives you a motivating talk, it’s very hard to maintain that distance. “At the end of an over, batsmen come close and chat together, it is hard to follow those things and remember all those things in an intense game,” he said. On the personal front, he recalled that the triple hundred he scored against Saurashtra in his second Ranji Trophy game, which cemented his place in the Mumbai side. Later in his career, Jaffer led Mumbai to two Ranji Trophy titles.