I forgot that I can use saliva, but will use it from now on: RCB's Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Bengaluru, Apr 17 (PTI): Fast bowlers often have elephantine memory but Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar rather sheepishly conceded that he has forgotten to use saliva to shine the ball despite the redrafted rules, and promised to make amends in the IPL match against Punjab Kings here on Friday.
In the run-up to this season’s IPL, the BCCI had lifted the ban on using saliva as a ball polishing agent after several captains favoured the move.
The saliva ban was enforced during the COVID-19 pandemic days as a precautionary measure.
Now, several skippers and quick bowlers have felt that it will revive the forgotten art of reverse swing, but Bhuvneshwar offered a different perspective.
“I forgot that I can use saliva. Yesterday when the (team) staff told me, I didn't know that I have to use it,” a sheepish Bhuvneshwar said on the eve of the match against Punjab Kings.
But now, there is a late realisation and he is open to experimentation.
“I am not sure if it will help or not, but now that I remember, definitely in tomorrow's match (vs PBKS) I will put some saliva and see if it helps or not," he said with a chuckle.
However, some of his contemporaries have eagerly latched on to the opportunity to purchase some reverse swing to keep the batters guessing.
Mitchell Starc of Delhi Capitals found a hint of reverse swing against Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday while homing in on the stumps with a series of yorkers in the 20th over and later in the Super Over.
Starc’s remarkable accuracy and the touch of reverse swing played a big role in DC eking out a Super Over win at the Arun Jaitely Stadium in the national capital.
“Reverse swing had completely gone away from cricket, whether it was red ball or white ball. Suddenly, if someone can execute 11 yorkers in 12 balls at a 145 (kmph) pace, then you have to give Starc the credit,” said RR’s Nitish Rana, who fell leg before to the Australian fast bowler.
Delhi’s skipper Axar Patel also offered some insight.
“Getting reverse swing is one thing, but executing it is very important. It was reversing, but at that time, under pressure, he (Starc) was executing it,” Patel said.
“I was just reminding him to be clear about the plans we made in the bowlers meeting. I was getting the same response: ‘Don’t worry, skip. I’ll do it',” he added.
rhaps, it’s time for Bhuvneshwar to do it as well.
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Indigo flights chaos: SCR to run special trains to clear passenger rush
Hyderabad (PTI): The South Central Railway on Saturday announced that it would run four special trains to manage the surge in passengers resulting from the large-scale cancellation of IndiGo flights here.
The move comes as flyers face significant disruption and long queues at the airport due to the cancellation.
A press release from the SCR said it is running the special trains to clear the extra rush of passengers to Chennai, Mumbai and Shalimar (Kolkata) from Hyderabad today.
Meanwhile, as many as 43 outbound Indigo flights were cancelled from here on Saturday, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport sources said.
ALSO READ: IndiGo cancels over 200 flights from Delhi, Mumbai on Saturday
Similarly, 26 incoming flights are also likely to be cancelled during the day, they said.
The flight cancellations drew ire from passengers, who thronged the IndiGo counters at the airport demanding to know the exact situation.
“This is utter nonsense! Digiyatra done, message received that departure has been rescheduled ahead of the scheduled departure and now upon arriving at Hyderabad airport coming to know at the security checkpoint that Indigo flight is cancelled,” Tarun Singha, former Ministry of Defence spokesperson said in a post on X.
“But the thing is if you don’t shout they do nothing. Example at Hyderabad Airport, there was no staff no flight information for an hour. Then a fellow passenger started shouting on mic and an Indigo staff appeared finally,” a netizen said in a post.
On Friday, when IndiGo cancelled over 1,000 flights from across airports, its CEO Pieter Elbers apologised in a video message for the major inconvenience caused to passengers due to the disruptions.
In the one-way video communication, Elbers also said that the airline was expecting fewer than 1,000 flights on Saturday.
