Former England captain Joe Root got some limelight during the first test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi.
Joe Root was seen shining the ball on spinner Jack Leach’s head as players can no longer use saliva to shine the cricket ball.
Joe Root’s unique way of shining the cricket ball
Team England is facing Pakistan on possibly the flattest test match pitch in Rawalpindi. Both Pakistan and English bowlers found it almost impossible to get anything out of the wicket in order to get rid of the batters. During the third day of the Rawalpindi test Joe Toot caught everyone’s attention with his unique way of shining the ball in order to get some reverse swing.
Joe Root was seen shining the ball on spinner Jack Leach’s head while the English spinner patiently allowed him to use the sweat on his head. It’s worth noting that players are no longer permitted to use saliva to shine the ball as a result of changes made to the rules and regulations by ICC after the game was affected by the Covid-19 spread.
Joe Root garnered a lot of attention as he used Jack Leach’s bald head to wipe away all the sweat from his head in order to shine the ball before the 73rd over bowled by Ollie Robinson so as to get some reverse swing to help the English pacers.
The commentators including former English skipper Nasser Hussain were amazed to see Joe Root using Jack Leach’s head to shine the ball and found it quite hilarious in a rather boring test match. David Gower termed the act as “Absolutely ingenious” as no one else had even thought of using a player’s head to improve the shine of the cricket ball.
"Absolutely ingenious!"
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) December 3, 2022
Root finds a unique way of shining the ball with the help of Leach 🤝😅#PAKvENG | #UKSePK pic.twitter.com/mYkmfI0lhK
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Use of saliva was first temporarily banned in 2020 and in October 2022 ICC prohibited the use of saliva to shine the cricket ball on a permanent basis. During the Covid times, players got used to shine the ball with the help of sweat. However, using a players head to shine the cricket ball was possibly seen for the first time on the cricket field.