‘Won’t bowlers celebrate with team-mates,’ ICC’s new set of rules leaves Inzamam concerned

Inzamam has pointed out the loopholes in the ICC’s ruling, highlighting things that simply cannot be contained despite the restrictions.

Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-Ul-Haq has raised some valid concerns over the ‘social distancing’ rule implemented by the ICC. As per the ICC, players will no longer hand over sweaters or sunglasses to umpires and will need to use sanitizers when coming in contact with the ball. However, Inzamam has pointed out the loopholes in the ICC’s ruling, highlighting things that simply cannot be contained despite the restrictions.

Inzamam-Ul-Haq has his concerns against the ICC’s new set of rules (PTI Image)

“Will slip fielders also stand some distance apart? After taking a wicket, won’t the bowler celebrate with his teammates? If a bowler is not doing well, won’t the captain go up to him and speak with him? Will the batsmen stand six-feet apart and talk strategy?” Inzamam said on a video uploaded on his YouTube channel The Match Winner.

“It is a very good thing that the sport is returning but tinkering with rules is a serious issue. Aap cricket ko cricket ko tarah hi rehne dein (Let cricket remain cricket).”

Another topic Inzamam pointed out is the ban of saliva, which the former batsman believes won’t be a practice that will be easy for the bowlers to get used to. While the ICC is contemplating a replacement for saliva to help bowlers sustain their advantage of swinging the ball, certain current and former players have thrown their weight behind the use of wax/Vaseline saliva’s potential replacements.

As far as these issues are not concerned, Inzamam is worried bowlers will turn to external substances, which in turn, tends to create further problems.

“I was thinking the other day that you can’t apply saliva on the ball because of certain issues (related to coronavirus). But there are several other things that can cause problems as well,” Inzamam added.

“If a bowler is not allowed to apply saliva then ball won’t move around as much and he will go for runs. The bowler will then turn to other things such as Vaseline to shine the ball. I don’t understand the logic behind saliva ban.”