David Warner against saliva ban for ball-shining
Melbourne/UNI:Amidst a growing debate around whether saliva should be used to shine a cricket ball, Australian opener David Warner has said there is no need to abolish the traditional ball-shining practices, when cricket resumes in the post COVID-19 world.
Warner said that the traditional practice of shining the ball has been going around for 'hundreds of years' and it should be continued with.
Warner’s comments have come after an ESPN report said that authorities are considering the possibility of allowing artificial substances to be used to maintain the ball instead of saliva and sweat, to cut down the risk of the highly contagious infection when international cricket restarts.
"You're sharing change rooms and you're sharing everything else, I don't see why you have to change that. It's been going around for hundreds of years now, I can't recall anyone that's got sick by doing that, ' Warner told cricket.com.au.
"If you're going to contract a bug, I don't think it'd necessarily be just from that. I'm not too sure but it's not my place to comment on whether or not we should or shouldn't (use saliva to shine the ball). It's up to the ICC and the governing bodies to decide," he added.
Meanwhile, former India bowler Zaheer Khan has a completely different take on the issue. He reckoned that shining the ball with saliva doesn't just put the players at risk but also the crowd in attendance at the venue.
"The issue has to be addressed. It's not just one individual putting saliva on the ball, it's usually the entire playing eleven. When you're playing in a packed stadium and the ball has gone out for a six, it actually might have gone into the crowd and touched people's hands,' Zaheer said on Cricbuzz Live.
'So there's a question mark on the practice (of shining the ball with saliva) there. There's a high chance of something transmitting through the ball,' he added.
The subject of legalisation of ball tampering has led to divided opinions with West Indies pace great Michael Holding saying it is a bit 'self contradictory', while Proteas legend Allan Donald being open to the idea.
Among others, Sachin Tendulkar said players will be wary of using saliva to shine the ball, while Waqar Younis, Ashish Nehra and Harbhajan Singh have supported the use of spit.
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