Bowlers participating in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 will allowed to apply saliva to the ball, indicating an end of the Covid-19 era.
In the Covid-19 era, the lucrative tournament was played in empty stadiums in the UAE along with bowlers disallowed to apply saliva to the ball.
The decision to revoke saliva ban was taken after a host of franchise captains voiced for the change at a meeting in the BCCI headquarters on Thursday.
As per a report in ESPN Cricinfo, the ban was hurting the bowlers as it was not facilitating reverse swing, which is becoming rare in white-ball cricket.
The saliva ban was first announced in May 2020 with the ICC making it permanent in 2022.
Premier India fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah had said back then that there should be “some alternative for the bowlers to maintain the ball”.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Shami said, “We are trying (to get reverse swing), but the usage of saliva on the ball is not allowed,” Shami had told reporters after India’s win over Australia in the Champions Trophy semi-final. “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.”
Fast bowlers Vernon Philander and Tim Southee backed his call.
“That was a rule brought around Covid with the virus going around the world, but I think as a bowler, you want to have a slight advantage,” Southee said on ESPNcricinfo’s Match Day. “We see the game going the way it’s going and seeing sides score 362 and more often than not over 300 in this format. I think there needs to be something in the bowlers’ favour, and whether that’s a little bit of saliva, then yeah, I don’t see why they couldn’t afford to get that back in.”