‘It’s difficult to get required drift without use of saliva’
LUCKNOW: Spin bowling in Indian cricket is more than a century old. Palwankar Baloo, a left-arm orthodox exponent of the art is known as the India’s first spin bowler and the use of saliva to shine the ball has been a tradition since then.
But there has now been a lot of talk about the art losing its sheen, especially since the International Cricket Council (ICC) has imposed a blanket ban on the use of saliva in view of the pandemic and announced punishment for bowlers using saliva.
So, will this ban create problems for slow bowlers, who have a habit of using saliva to give a flip or turn to their deliveries? Much like India leggie Yuzvendra Chahal, who feels spinners will suffer as they won’t get the required drift during the middle overs if they don’t use saliva to shine the ball, Uttar Pradesh’s highest wicket-taking spinner Saurabh Kumar too is finding it hard to come to terms with the situation.
“It’s going to be very difficult as spinners won’t get the required drift, especially while handling the old ball. I have been applying saliva frequently to shine the ball and it helps me a lot in getting the turn on all kinds of surface in India,” said Kumar, who scalped more than 100 wickets in the last three domestic seasons.
While ICC’s move to ban the use of saliva is an interim health safety measures, the move seems to be making the gentlemen’s game friendly for batsmen.
“It makes no difference to spin bowlers in the shorter versions of the game with white ball, but with red ball in innings cricket, getting turn or drift without the use of saliva would be impossible,” said Kumar, “Right now, I am unable to understand how I am going to adopt the new system.”
“Spin bowling has been Indian cricket’s richest and most durable tradition and I don’t think spin bowlers across the world would find it easy to bowl with confidence without the use of saliva,” said Kumar, who had 51 wickets in the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy season.
Kumar, who is yet to start bowling again after lockdown, has been more focused on his physical at his home in Meerut. The 27-year-old all-rounder has converted one of his rooms into a gymnasium.
“As soon as the Unlock 2.0 came into effect, I bought new sets of weights for more effective training. Am doing routine running in the by-lanes of my colony but there is no scope for bowling as there are no grounds nearby. I want to start, but the situation in Delhi is not conducive and I am unable to reach my academy there.”
“I can’t say how much I am desperate to come into action. Life without cricket in the last three months has shaken my confidence, and I feel it will take some time to get my confidence back. It’s tough to live without cricket,” he said.
”That’s why I am also working hard on mental strength as it would be a big help when I come back to the ground for real action.”
Like any other domestic cricketer, Saurabh was thinking of a good break of 15 days once the season was over in the second week of February, but the impact of coronavirus, which pushed the country into lockdown, shook everybody’s confidence.
“It’s a tough situation for everyone in the country and cricketers are not different too. For now, future of domestic cricket is uncertain, but this lockdown has given me enough opportunity to think and work on my positives and negatives in the game.”
“I have been watching my tapes on TV, analyzing good and bad things about my game. Despite having a poor start this season, we bounced back superbly in the Ranji Trophy before being out of the race in the knockout. I believe that I could have played a much bigger role in team’s success, if I had batted with more carefully.”
For the last 12 years, Kumar after playing for the under-15 side hasn’t stayed at home for such a long time, and he finds that it was God who had decided such a fate for him.
“If the God wasn’t with me I could have stuck at Delhi itself. I am at home, spending good time with family, but enjoying careful diet,” he said. “We have a newly member in the family in this lockdown as my elder brother and sister-in-law were blessed with a baby girl and this allowed us to convert out lockdown tension into celebration.”
Kumar, who had a wonderful and match-winning 98 against Madhya Pradesh at Indore this Ranji Trophy season, says that he would be more serious on his batting.
“Besides brining ore sharpness in my bowling in the next season, I would be equally focusing on my batting as I believe that with willow too I can play a bigger role for the side,” said Kumar, who trains at the cricket academy being run by former India stumper Vijay Dahiya at St Stephen’s College in New Delhi.
With 192 wickets in as many as 44 first class matches, Saurabh has scored two centuries and eight half centuries so far. “I wish to complete my 200 wickets in domestic cricket as soon as possible.”