Southampton: Veteran Indian pacer Ishant Sharma has said that Dukes ball will swing even without saliva during the World Test Championship final against New Zealand here, and somebody from the team will need to take responsibility to maintain it through the match.
Sharma, who has played 101 Test matches, stated that a 'maintained ball' makes it easier for a bowler to take wickets in English conditions.
"I think the ball will swing even without saliva and somebody needs to take responsibility to maintain the ball," Sharma said on Star Sports show 'Cricket Connected'.
"And if the ball is maintained well in these conditions, then it becomes easier for the bowlers to take wickets in these conditions," he added.
Notably, the ICC has barred bowlers from applying saliva to the ball since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
The 32-year-old Ishant also said that adjusting in the lengths is important in England.
"You need to train differently and adapt to the change. In India, you get the reverse swing after some time, but in England, the length is fuller because of the swing.
So, you have to adjust to the lengths. It is not easy to force that and the weather here is cooler so it takes time to acclimatise to the weather," said Sharma.
Further, the Delhi pacer reckoned that acclimatising to English weather takes time and changing the training become different.
"And the quarantine makes it difficult...The way you train in the gym and the training on the ground is very different, so you have to adjust to that and it takes time," he said. (UNI)
