Picture Credit: Twitter
The ongoing 3rd Test between Pakistan and Australia at Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore saw visitors scoring 391-10 on the back of Usman Khawaja's 91 and valuable contribution from Cameron Green (79 off 163) Alex Carry (67 of 105), after their first inning of batting. While Pakistan bowlers started off well on Day 1 after Shaheen Afridi dismissed David Warner (7 off 13) and Marnus Labuschagne (0 off 2) in quick intervals, they later got a bit relaxed and conceded too many runs.
However, a clip doing the rounds on social media may put Pakistan's skipper Babar Azam trouble. As per a short clip shared by a Twitter user, Babar Azam was seen shining the ball by using saliva, which is strictly prohibited since new amendments were notified.
In response many Twitter users commented in the video urging cricket's apex body to take stringent action against Babar Azam. The ICC barred saliva application given the Covid outbreak, and MCC said its research found that applying saliva had no impact on the movement of the ball. However, when cricket resumed following the onset of Covid 19, playing conditions were written in most game forms, stating that applying saliva to the ball was no longer permitted.
The new amendments further stated that using saliva will be treated the same way as any other unfair methods of changing the ball's condition. However, these amendments will not come into force until October, but still, as per guidelines issued post-Covid outbreak, the use of saliva has been prohibited and has some profound implications. As the Twitter user has tagged ICC, cricket's apex body globally, Babar's act may attract more attention as time progresses. Speaking of Babar Azam, Pak's skipper is in sublime form and gave their testimony in the second innings of the 2nd Test, where he played record-shattering innings of 196 in 425 balls to escape defeat from visitors hands.