Amidst lots of speculations and talks in the cricketing fraternity on what role does ‘mint’ play in shining the red cherry in Test cricket, former England skipper, Michael Vaughan, conducted a small experiment during his current stay in India (for the ongoing five-Test series between hosts and England) to check for the results. Vaughan who is a veteran of 82 Tests and 86 One-Day Internationals (ODI) gave a sneak peek of the ball’s behaviour by applying saliva on samples like orange, apple and lemon. He was helped in this experiment by some Indian volunteers. Ever since South Africa‘s stand-in skipper Faf du Plessis was charged by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for ball tampering, several cricketers have supported the 32-year-old, stating that shining the ball with mint saliva has no effect on the ball’s swinging nature. READ: ICC unhappy with Faf du Plessis ball-tampering appeal
The first volunteer was given an orange rubbed with mint saliva and was asked to bowl with the aim of hitting a distant tree. However, Vaughan expressed his displeasure on not witnessing the orange show no movement in the air. The next two participants were given an apple and a lemon respectively but the result remained the same. There was no movement whatsoever in the last two attempts as well.
While the video captured Vaughan in the funny scheme of things, the former England skipper also did not shy away from taking a dig at the Australians. “Australia needs to look in the mirror and work a bit on their technique,” Vaughan said. He also went on to say that Australia’s struggle was not because of the “mint-gate” issue and advised that they should be concentrating more on their batting technique. Australia have already lost the three-Test series to visiting side South Africa and this jibe will most likely not be taken by them in the right spirit.
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