With the meeting held by ICC in June, a rule of ‘No Saliva’ is being imposed for the tournaments including IPL. There has been no instance noted on application of saliva for shining the ball, and this was until the 12th match in the IPL 2020 edition began.
The match between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders on 30 September has noted a slippage of Robin Uthappa applying saliva on the ball. This incident took place after Uthappa missed a catch of KKR’s all-rounder Sunil Narine.
Use of saliva is banned in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. The official statement reads “Players will not be permitted to use saliva to shine the ball. If a player does apply saliva to the ball, the umpires will manage the situation with some leniency during an initial period of adjustment for the players, but subsequent instances will result in the team receiving a warning.”
According to the official board, a team can be issued up to two warnings per innings on saliva usage. But with the repeated use of saliva on the ball, the team will have a 5-run penalty to the batting side.
Besides, whenever saliva is applied to the ball, the umpires will be instructed to clean the ball before play recommences. For the time being, there has been no update regarding any penalties or warning received by Uthappa or the Rajasthan Royals team.
