Steve Smith expresses disappointment on ICC's rule of saliva ban to shine the ball

Australian batsman Steve Smith has said that he does not think it is great to ban saliva as a method to shine the ball and added that it might tinker with the balance between bat and ball. His remark comes as the International Cricket Council (ICC). issued guidelines for safely resuming cricket in the times of coronavirus and as a part of those guidelines, players would not be able to use saliva on the cricket ball.

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'I don't think that's great': Steve Smith

"I have always been one to want a fair contest between bat and ball, so if that's taken away, even as a batter I don't think that's great. Whether they can find other ways with certain things, it'll be hard. I actually spit on my hands most balls and that's how I get grip and stuff," ESPNCricinfo quoted Smith as saying.

"So that might take some adjusting to certain things like that, but that's something for the ICC to figure out what they want to do going forward and different regulations. We'll see how it all lands, everything is up in the air at the moment, but we'll see where everything goes," he added.

Shining the ball with saliva is a major thing for bowlers in trying to extract some swing from the match. As the game starts swaying in favour of batsmen by each passing day, bowlers have to try everything they can to trouble the batsmen.

All the global sporting events have either been postponed or cancelled due to the global pandemic. Australia's home bilateral ODI series against New Zealand has been postponed as of now. The top-ranked Test batsman was all set to lead the 2008 winners Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2020 that was originally scheduled to get underway on March 29 but has now been suspended indefinitely due to coronavirus fear.

(With ANI Inputs)

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