Reduce pitch size to aid bowlers post Covid-19: Ramiz Raja

Former Pakistan opener Ramiz Raja believes that art of reverse swing could be excluded from the game, when cricketing activities resume after coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic ends. 

Raja, who was part of Pakistan’s triumphant 1992 World Cup side, believes that stopping players from shining the ball, through sweat or saliva, will prove detrimental for reverse swing — especially in Test cricket.  

“In all probability, players won’t be able to apply saliva or sweat to shine the ball which will mean that reverse swing will go out of the equation,” said Raja in a YouTube video. “This will consequently make Test cricket less attractive because reverse swing forms a very important part of a bowler’s armoury in this format.”

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The former Pakistan captain also suggested that the size of pitch should be reduced in order to ensure that game does not skew in the batsman’s favour.

“The lack of reverse swing will disturb the balance between bat and ball and so we might have to go towards squeezing the size of the pitch. Maybe turn the pitch into 20 yards instead of 22 so that batting is not very easy,” he said.

Raja featured in 57 Tests and 198 One-day Internationals (ODIs), over the course of his career, scoring 2833 and 5841 runs, respectively.