The new ball to be used in the India-England Test series is
set to be different in nature from the older one, which had defects such as
losing hardness within the first 10 or so overs, according to a report by the
Indian Express.

The new ball will be providing some ‘extra bounce’ and will
retain its firm character till the 60th over, as per Sanspareils
Greenlands (SG), the official supplying company.

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“An important change is the seam. It is more pronounced now.
The spinners especially wanted a seam which they can grip and thereby get more
revolutions on the ball,” Indian Express quoted SG’s Marketing Director Paras Anand as
saying.

Reportedly, the manufacturing company, following the
complaints from Indian players including the bowlers, has improved the
hand-made product to make it as close as possible to the machine-made product, darkening
the shade of the ball as well to a darker red from a lighter hue, as per a
preference of the Indian cricketers.

This, interestingly, found no logical backing, as according
to Anand, the bowlers stated that the darker the leather was the better the result
would be for them, opposing the lighter shade which he terms more to be a psychological
factor.

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Former Indian pacer RP Singh said the mentality had always
prevailed among Indian bowlers, although there was no science as such behind
it, focussing instead on having a prominent seam.

“With a less prominent seam, it is tougher to swing the ball
and you have to bang it harder, which means you have to strain much more”, he
said.