India’s bowling coach Bharat Arun has stated on Thursday that the use of saliva to shine the ball is a “difficult habit” to get over.

The development is due to the guidelines being developed by the ICC to combat the spread of coronavirus as sporting activities gradually resumes in India. Part of the world governing body led by Anil Kumble was to ban the use of saliva as a part of health safety protocol.

Arun who pointed out that it is universal behaviour among teams won’t mind an “external substance” in place of the saliva to avoid another spike of the dreaded virus.

So, this has made a lot of premier players and coaches to call for the use of external substances that could be used to shine the ball. This is needed for the maintenance of a balance between the bat and the ball.

Speaking with PTI during a recent chat, Arun who noted that the use of external substances is uniform for all the teams, said the of saliva will be a very difficult habit to get over but the team will make a conscious effort during training and practice sessions to get rid of the habit.

Also sharing this sentiment is the world’s premier fast bowler, Pat Cummins. The IPL’s costliest foreign recruit pointed out that if the use of saliva is banned, there has to be another option.

Speaking further on what can be done to ensure the safety of teams and umpires, the 27-year-old pacer while speaking with cricket.com.au called for more initiative from the ICC to combat the spread of the virus.

Many affected countries were on total lockdown for over a month before they started easing the restriction after hitting the plateau of the infection rate.

Speaking on sweat not being banned as it doesn’t spread the virus, Cummins said as long as science is saying saliva usage during the game is a high risk, there is a need to keep other options open.

He also said that as sweat is being used to shine the ball somehow, he is glad that it not banned.

Written by: Oladipupo Mojeed