When the captains of all the 10 Indian Premier League franchises meet at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) headquarters on Thursday, there could be discussions on whether the ban on applying saliva on the ball could be lifted during the tournament.
While a few BCCI insiders indicate that there have been internal discussions, a decision could be taken only after listening to the captains’ take on the issue. The International Cricket Council (ICC) had banned the practice of applying saliva to shine the ball as a precautionary measure during the COVID-19 pandemic, before making it a permanent ban in 2022.
The IPL, too, followed the ICC guidelines and imposed a ban. However, during the ICC Champions Trophy, Mohammed Shami had spoken about the need to use saliva on the ball, which also had the backing of Tim Southee.
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“We keep appealing that we should be allowed to use saliva so that we can bring reverse swing back into the game and it becomes interesting,” Shami had said during the recently concluded Champions Trophy.
The BCCI insiders claimed that discussions started during the Champions Trophy and even though the use of saliva might not have a huge benefit for the bowlers in white-ball cricket, they are open to discussions. “Ultimately, it will be upto the captains to have their opinions,” a source said.
As per the existing playing conditions, if it is a first instance of applying saliva on the ball, the fielding team’s captain is summoned and issued a first warning. If it is the second instance during an innings, summon the captain of the fielding side and issue a second and final warning to the captain of the fielding side that any further such offence by any member of the team during the innings shall result in that member of the team being fined by BCCI.
If it is the third or subsequent instance, inform the player who has applied saliva to the ball on that occasion that he is subject to a fine, payable to BCCI, of the lesser of 10 lakh or 25 per cent of his match fee.