Rubel working on fitness staying at home

The outbreak of coronavirus brought many changes to the world. Cricket has also been affected in many ways and the International Cricket Council (ICC) decided to impose a ban on using saliva to shine the ball.

Bangladeshi pacer Rubel Hossain said it will make the job of the bowlers difficult.

Like other cricketers, Rubel has been passing time at his home in Bagerhat. The pacer is working on his fitness.

“Fitness is the most important thing for a pace bowler. I’ve been trying to keep myself busy while staying at home. As a professional cricketer, we have no way but keeping ourselves fit,” Rubel told UNB on Monday.

“We’ve a big park close to our home. I used to go there and run. But it’ll be great if BCB prepares practising facilities for national team players. I heard that they are working on it,” he added.

Rubel said he believes the saliva ban is needed to keep everyone safe from the virus which has already taken nearly 400,000 lives around the world.

“It’ll surely pose a challenge for pace bowlers. We’re used to using saliva to shine the ball from early cricketing days. But we’ve to accept reality. It will take some time to adjust to the new normal. It’s for sure that life will be tough without using saliva on the ball,” the Bangladesh pacer added.

The 30-year-old represented Bangladesh in 101 ODIs and 27 Tests and T20Is. He accumulated 126 wickets in ODIs and 36 and 28 wickets respectively in Tests and T20Is.