The ban on applying saliva on the ball is set to be lifted during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 after all the ten captains gave their consent on the issue.
“Suggestions were sought from the captains and they unanimously agreed that the ban should be lifted in a bid to offer something to the bowlers,” a well-placed insider told Sportstar after the mandatory captain’s meeting at the BCCI headquarters on Thursday.
It is believed that a formal communication will be sent out to the teams shortly.
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.
“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 Champions Trophy.
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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.
As per the existing playing conditions, if it is the first instance of applying saliva on the ball, the fielding team’s captain is summoned and issued a first warning. After the second instance during an innings, the captain of the fielding side is issued a second and final warning that any further such offence by any member of the team 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% of his match fee.
But with the ban set to be lifted, bowlers will have something to cheer for.
Impact player rule to stay
Contrary to reports, the Impact Player rule will stay in the upcoming edition of the tournament. In fact, there were no discussions on it being scrapped for the time being. “Impact player has made the tournament more interesting and there were no further deliberations on scrapping it,” an insider said.