Sachin Tendulkar: With no saliva, why not introduce second new ball after 50-55 overs

Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar wants the introduction of the second new ball in Test cricket after every “50 or 55” overs to help pacers on flat pitches as ICC on Wednesday banned the usage of saliva on interim basis, piling more pressure on pacers.

During an interaction with former Australia pacer Brett Lee on Tendulkar’s 100 MB app, the Master Blaster said that using only sweat could pose major challenges for bowler and fielding team and why the usage of saliva was important to shine the ball.

"In Test cricket, suddenly if the surfaces are not good, the standard of playing I feel drops down. And above all the game slows down because, the batters know if I don't play a stupid shot here, no one can get me out and the bowler knows, on this surface I have to be patient," Tendulkar said.

"But why not then to get the game moving, have a new ball after every 45-50 or 55 overs because in ODI cricket we have to play only 50 overs, and you have two new balls there, so literally 25 overs, so that's it," said Tendulkar.

Tendulkar said in a cooler climate, players don’t sweat much and it could become a headache for teams when the ball gets old. He compared it with day-night matches in the limited-overs format.

"So here in Test cricket, if you are not going to allow saliva, and sometimes you won't sweat as much depending on the climate where you are playing, it could be a lot like day/night one-dayers," the maestro said.

"In ODI cricket, bowling when conditions are dry in a day-night match and bowling second when there is a lot of dew on the ground, so on paper the conditions and rules are exactly the same, but on the field, conditions are totally different, it's chalk and cheese," he said.

Apart from the ban on saliva, the ICC also approved COVID-19 substitutions while scrapping the neutral umpires rule for the time being.