Cricket Balls Get a Saliva Comeback: BCCI has removed the ban on using saliva on the ball for IPL-2025. According to news agency PTI, the IPL committee of the board met with captains in Mumbai on Thursday. After everyone agreed, they made this decision. But the board hasn’t given any official statement about it yet.
Because of the corona disease, BCCI had banned putting saliva on the ball in 2020. But ICC still hasn’t relaxed this rule in international cricket.
Who won yesterday IPL match between kkr vs rcb date: 22/03/2025
Changes After Captains’ Meeting
In the meeting, they decided that a ball bowled above the waist will be called a no-ball. Also, for wides outside off or leg stump, teams can take DRS.
Captains won’t get banned for slow over rates anymore. This decision came after Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant got banned for one match each.
If dew makes the ball wet, the bowling team can ask the field umpire to change the ball after the 11th over. But they can’t choose which ball they want.
How Saliva Helps Swing the Ball
Putting saliva on the ball helps fast bowlers the most. It makes the ball swing better. You might have noticed bowlers and fielders rubbing the ball with cloth and putting saliva on it.
They do this to keep one side of the ball shiny. This helps the ball swing easily. But sometimes, they mess with the ball too much, and that comes under ball tampering.
Mohammed Shami had asked for a change in the saliva rule during the Champions Trophy. In a press conference, he said, “Modern cricket has become tough for bowlers. Reverse swing is hard to get, but ICC has banned saliva on the ball.”
How Saliva Makes the Ball Swing
When a bowler rubs saliva on the ball, one side becomes smooth, and the other side stays rough. When the fast bowler bowls, the ball swings toward the rough side in the air. This is called reverse swing.
There’s also conventional swing in cricket. This happens with a new ball when both sides are shiny. The bowler uses his wrist and hand skills to swing it both ways. But when the ball gets old, reverse swing starts happening. For any queries just Google Karlo
ICC Still Against Saliva
BCCI might have made new rules for IPL, but ICC hasn’t accepted them for international matches. During corona, ICC banned saliva on the ball, and in 2022, they made this rule permanent. Back then, IPL followed these rules too. In international cricket, there’s no rule for reviewing wides or no-balls either.
Fine for Using Saliva Before
Last year in IPL, the rule was that if a player used saliva on the ball 3 times in a match, he had to pay a fine of 10 lakh rupees or 25% of his match fees. The fielding team’s captain would get a warning. If it happened a third time, the match referee would decide to fine the player or the captain.