'Only an interim measure,' says Anil Kumble on ICC's decision to ban saliva for shining the ball

The Anil Kumble-led ICC Cricket Committee had recommended banning the use of saliva to shine the ball during cricket matches amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Now talking about the same, the chairman said that the recommendation is only an interim measure, and "things will go back to normal" once the COVID-19 pandemic is brought under control. 

On Friday, the ICC, in its guidelines had also suggested a bar on the practice. "This is only an interim measure and as long as we have hopefully control over COVID in a few months or a year's time then I think things will go back to as normal as it can be," Kumble told Star Sports show 'Cricket Connected'.

Talking about if ICC would allow usage of external substances like wax to shine the ball, Kumble said there were discussions on the usage of external substances. 

"If you look back at the history of the game, I mean we have been very critical and we have been very focused on eliminating any external substances coming into the game," Kumble said of the speculation.

"Whether you are literally legalising, if you are looking to do that now which obviously has had a great impact over the last couple of years," he added. He cited the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, which led to bans on Australian cricketers Steve Smith, David Warner, and Cameron Bancroft. "ICC took a decision but then cricket Australia took, even a tougher stance on what happened during that series between South Africa and Australia, so we did consider that," he said.