Saliva ban made it difficult: Bumrah

Chennai: The ban on saliva turned out to be a handicap for the bowlers since the sweat was not effective to shine the ball, India pace spearhead

Jasprit bumrah said on Friday after England called the shots on the opening day of the series-opener, here. "The ball did become soft after a while and the wicket is on flatter side with the bounce being less. You are left with limited options (to shine ball). We are trying to figure out what we can do with the limited things on hand, at that time," Bumrah said at the virtual media conference. India's most successful bowler on the day admitted that they found it difficult to maintain the ball as ICC has banned the use of saliva in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak. "Yes, it becomes difficult when the ball becomes soft and doesn't shine really well because of new COVID19 rules, we can't use saliva, very difficult during that time to maintain the ball," Bumrah said. He also explained that sweat which is lighter than saliva is not at all a good option to prepare the ball for reverse swing.