The Indian Premier League is back to enthrall all its cricket fans, starting from Saturday.
The IPL 2025 can be marked as the first lucrative tournament being played in the post Covid-19 era with the ban on applying saliva to the ball revoked for the first time in cricket.
The BCCI have made two more changes which will be witnessed by fans right from the opening match between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), on Saturday.
Before that let’s have a look at the rule changes for the IPL 2025.
Saliva Ban Revoked
Bowlers participating in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 will allowed to apply saliva to the ball.
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.
‘Conditional’ Second New Ball In 2nd Innings
It is likely that a new ball is brought into play in the evening match after the 11th over, with on-field umpires deeming the dew factor significant as the trend of high-scoring games will continue.
There will be no new ball for the afternoon match.
DRS For Wides
In order to make the matches more fairer, the BCCI has expanded the DRS review to height wides and off-side wides. The leg-side wides, however, will be called by the on-fied umpires.
Meanwhile, the Impact Player Rule, which receive mixed views, will continue in the upcoming season.
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