Permanent saliva ban not a big deal: Pat Cummins

Pat Cummins says since the impact of precautionary prohibition on use of saliva for shining the ball was not as huge as anticipated, a permanent ban on its usage will not be a "big deal" for the seam bowlers. Saliva application was barred by the ICC in view of the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020. Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the custodian of cricket laws, recently imposed a complete ban on the use of saliva while announcing its amended 2022 code, which will come into effect in October this year. The MCC reasoned that applying saliva had no impact on the ball's movement, according to its research.

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Players have always used the traditional method of shining one side of the ball with saliva and sweat to help generate more movement in the air as it travels towards batsmen. Though the change in laws were received with mixed reactions, cricket ball manufacturers appear to be unfazed with the

"I don't think so (permanent saliva ban will hamper the performance of the swing bowlers)," Cummins, himself a pacer, told reporters ahead of Australia's third Test against Pakistan. "I don't think it has made a huge effect, as big as we might have thought it would. We can still use sweat so it's not too big a deal," he added. The MCC said that using saliva to shine the ball would be treated as an unfair practice.

Pat Cummins. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)Great that KKR have retained most of the squadCummins, who had become the most expensive foreign buy in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2019 when Kolkata Knight Riders bought him for a whopping Rs 15.50 crore, will turn out for the Kolkata-based outfit once again. "Really excited. It's been great