It’s a Ranji Trophy match at the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium, lunch on Day Two, and the team manager is desperate to know where he can get hold of a packet of Mentos. “It’s urgent, will I get it anywhere nearby? I can even take a taxi to go and get it,” he told local organisers. “Ab mentos khane ka time khatam ho gaya, humne to lead le liya (The time has gone to eat Mentos, we have taken the lead),” retorted a player from the opposite camp. Make no mistake, it was serious talk — rather a coded conversation about an art that few cricket fans in India are aware of. The jellybean controversy is still playing out in England, but don’t brother to waste any breath on it. Because, it happens in India too, and has been happening for quite some time in the domestic cricket circuit. With one minor change: Mentos for jellybeans. Former cricketers, who do not wish to lend their names to this story, agree that the popular mint is used to “maximise” the shine on the ball. “On chewing it, the sweet concentrate of the toffee mixes with the saliva and the quality of the saliva is enhanced which is then spit on the ball to get a better shine than in normal circumstances,” says one of them. Nobody has been caught yet, nobody is sure if it’s legal. Of course, there are other Indian alternatives, too: Chlormint, Halls, sweet jelly, “Vicks ki goli”, etc. However, not every ball can benefit from the sweet concentrate. There are standard conditions that are needed, a “user manual” (see box) that needs to be understood and some “cooperation” from team-mates. “The use of Mentos and other toffees has been in practice for sometime now in domestic cricket. But not all teams use it because some don’t know about it at all while others don’t know the art of utilising it. But all teams that have international players in their ranks know of this. Those players have passed the trick on to their state teammates,” says a former Indian cricketer. Former India player Atul Wassan admits knowing first-class cricketers who use Mentos and other sweets to shine the ball. “I think it’s a clean adaptation of the law, there’s no foreign substance applied on the ball directly which the law prohibits. It is a part of your saliva that is used, I think it’s okay to an extent,” he says. Another ex-India bowler Vivek Razdan says he doesn’t know much about the use of sweets but acknowledges that “bowlers over the years have tried to find the loopholes with the law and used it to their advantage. The rules have been against the bowlers always so they try and find some way out to level the field. Earlier, it used to be Vaseline, lip guard, zinc, even bottle caps. When all these were banned, I guess this was the way out. After all, bowlers need to survive, too,” he says. THE ‘MENTOS’ MANUAL For those who are new to the ‘sweet’ game, here is how it goes: How do you do it? It is chewed and the sugary content is absorbed in the saliva, which is applied on the ball. Repeatedly done, this forms a kind of coating, giving a glazed look to the cricket ball. It is usually applied on the shiny surface of the ball. How does it work?First-class and international cricket is played with ‘Test standard’ balls made of soft leather. The sugar-coated saliva helps the ball swing in the natural way for a longer period of time than is usual. Most Test-standard balls lose their shine within 30 overs, and these toffees come into use from 30-60 overs. When do you do it? A lot depends on conditions available — the pitch should have some grass, and outfield should be green. The idea is to prevent the leather from peeling off. Conditions in favour of swing are added benefits. Note: It’s important that hands should be dry and not sweaty, which will make the ball heavy. And that’s why games played in North India winters are ideal. Bowlers in humid areas like Chennai and Mumbai can’t make the most of toffees because the sweat factor negates the, well, sugar factor.
