Coronavirus: Everyone will be required to adapt to changes, says Ravi Ashwin
May 20, 2020
New Delhi [India], May 20 : Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Wednesday said that every player will be required to adapt to the changes once cricketing action resumes.
Ashwin was doing an Instagram live session on the official handle of IPL franchise Delhi Capitals and it was then that the spinner was asked how sport will change due to the coronavirus.
To this, the spinner replied: "See if you go back in time, if you watch classic cricket matches in the 80s and 90s, players celebrated from a distance, they did not use to do hi-fives and have fancy celebrations, they just stood back and applauded".
"When I go out and I have the ball in my hand, it would be natural for me to apply saliva on the ball, but now everyone will be required to adapt to the new changes," he added.
Ashwin said that every player would be required to be mentally switched on as anything can happen going ahead.
"We are locked down as there is hope that we will return to some normalcy, we are all confined to our homes, we all have hope in future, we will have to anticipate what is coming ahead of us, we will be required to be mentally switched on as anything can happen," Ashwin said.
Shining the ball 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.
However, the ICC's Cricket Committee on Monday recommended changes to ICC regulations including prohibiting the use of saliva to shine the ball to mitigate the risks posed by the coronavirus and protect players and match officials.
The recommendations of the Cricket Committee will now be presented to the ICC Chief Executives' Committee in early June for approval.
"The ICC Cricket Committee heard from the Chair of the ICC Medical Advisory Committee Dr. Peter Harcourt regarding the elevated risk of the transmission of the virus through saliva, and unanimously agreed to recommend that the use of saliva to polish the ball be prohibited," reads an ICC release.
"The Committee also noted the medical advice that it is highly unlikely that the virus can be transmitted through sweat and saw no need to prohibit the use of sweat to polish the ball whilst recommending that enhanced hygiene measures are implemented on and around the playing field," added the release.
Currently, all cricketing action across the world has come to a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic.
