The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has just not put a pause on many major cricket activities around the world but has also affected the matches happening afterwards. Owing to the hygiene issues, many cricket experts and pundits have said that saliva or sweat should not be used to shine the ball while some said that the traditional form of shining the ball should be continued. Former Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad belongs to the group which believes that shining the ball with saliva should be banned after the game resumes. Ball-Tampering Could be Allowed in Cricket Post COVID-19, Says Ex-Australia Captain Ian Chappell.

The 50-year-old talked about the importance of social distancing and said that players should take proper precautions and safety measures in order to not get affected by the disease. “Whether it's the International Cricket Council (ICC) or BCCI or other sports bodies, they need to find some sort of a framework. For example, I'm talking about IPL. Probably, what I would do is, if this has to go on, if the show has to go on, then I would probably ask the players to travel on chartered flights instead of on regular flights. So, that’s one way of distancing oneself, having a social distance and maintaining the hygiene aspect as well. So, those are the things that one can work around,” said Prasad in an exclusive interview with the Times of India.

Talking about the use of saliva, Prasad said that no one can use the body fluid on the ball despite having great fitness. “And obviously completely taking saliva out of the equation. Nobody can use saliva of course. No matter how healthy, no matter how fit one is, I think for the time being saliva should be really removed,” the veteran of 33 Tests and 161 ODIs added.

Recently, Australia-based sports equipment company Kookaburra invented a unique wax formula which can be used as an alternative to shine the ball in place of sweat or saliva. However, the former pacer doesn’t support that idea as well. “Yes, it is a major weapon for a fast bowler and especially a swing bowler and one thing for sure (is) that you cannot allow any external object or any external things to be used on the leather (ball). I’m completely against it. You cannot use anything. Probably the only thing that can be allowed or that would be possible is to apply is sweat,” Prasad concluded.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 11, 2020 09:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).