COLOMBO: South Africa cricket team captain Faf du Plessis said he is still unclear about the revised ball-tampering rules and needs clarity on the same.
"I think it's important to say that I'm not clear yet on that matter," Sports24 quoted du Plessis, as saying.
The International Cricket Council recently made the ball-tampering punishment harsher for the offenders, extending the ban up to six Test matches or 12 one-day internationals.
Earlier, there was a provision of one-Test match ban on the players found guilty of ball-tampering.
"The ICC obviously made the penalties a lot stricter, but they still haven't said what is allowed and what isn't. Is chewing gum allowed, is it not? Are you allowed to have mints in your mouth?" he further inquired.
The right-hand batsman stated that he will speak to umpires to get some clarity on the matter before heading into the first Test match against Sri Lanka here on July 12.
"As Hashim Amla said, he likes to have sweets in his mouth and he spends a long time in the field. There is nothing wrong with that," he added.
The South-African cricketer welcomed ICC's decision to make ball-tampering laws more stringent and said that it will reduce the frequency of such incidents.
"We know now the penalties are much harsher ... so I would expect that would see less of that in the game. The penalties that are there now are going to make him think twice because you're going to miss a lot of cricket if you do that he said," he said
"As a captain of any team you want consistency through all teams and you want clarity," du Plessis added.
The South African captain was part of the third Test match played against Australia in Cape Town, where the infamous ball-tampering incident took place leading to the suspension of Australian captain Steve Smith, opener David Warner and fast bowler Cameron Bancroft.