Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar is not happy with the terms at which bowlers play the game of cricket today.

Weighing in on the issue, Tendulkar feels that the bowlers are at a disadvantage, especially with the ICC banning the use of saliva in the post-Covid-19 era of cricket, which the former batsman feels has left bowlers around the world handicapped.

In case you were unaware, saliva and sweat have been used as a method to retain shine on one side of the ball for decades. This helped the bowlers generate reverse swing. Today, sweat is still allowed to be used, but Tendulkar feels it’s nowhere close to being as effective as saliva.

ALSO READ: Sachin Tendulkar Shares The Secret Behind His Famous Uppercut Shot

“With the saliva ban, bowlers are handicapped if you do not have a substitute for saliva. Today we do not have any substitute for saliva. Cricket was always like it, sweat and saliva were always there. I would say saliva is more important than sweat, so it is almost as good as 60 per cent. Bowlers would rely more on saliva as compared to sweat,” he told ANI.

Tendulkar believes there should have been an alternative as taking away the advantage of saliva comes as a huge setback for the bowlers. “If I have to balance it out, bowlers would be 60 per cent depended on saliva and 40 per cent on sweat. That is being taken away from them, to me, bowlers are handicapped without a doubt,” he added.

“There should have been an alternative, but the alternative is still not there so it is literally like asking a batsman you cannot score runs on the offside, you can only score on the onside. It is literally like that. There is no substitute provided for saliva and that’s why bowlers are handicapped.”

ALSO READ: Sachin Tendulkar Needs Your Help To Find This First Maruti 800