Australia's speed sensation, Mitchell Starc, who is currently featuring for Delhi Capitals (DC) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, shared his thoughts on the use of saliva in cricket. He distinguished the saliva's impact on red-ball versus white-ball games. After his match-winning performance for DC in their IPL 2025 clash against Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Starc weighed in on a topic of interest among bowlers.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the ICC initially banned the use of saliva on the cricket ball, and the BCCI lifted that rule in IPL 2025. After the regulation changes, Starc expressed his preference for using sweat over saliva, especially in the context of white-ball cricket.
“I don’t use it. I think it’s a myth. “Some people think they swear by it. I don’t know what the difference is with sweat and saliva. I don’t reckon it makes a difference. It can make a difference on the red ball. I don’t reckon it makes a difference on the white ball” he said in an interview with Star Sports.
Earlier, India speedster Mohammed Shami rued the absence of reverse swing and said he is pleading to the global regulators at the International Cricket Council to lift the ban on the use of saliva to shine the cricket ball.
Starc was the pick of the bowlers during his last IPL outing against RR, After Yashasvi Jaiswal and Nitish Rana's good start, RR were needed nine runs in six ball where Starc conceded just eight runs to take the game into a super over, where he gave away only 11, and DC got them in four deliveries.
After registering a nail-biter win against RR, DC are currently on top of the IPL 2025 points table. The franchise will now face the Gujarat Titans on April 19 at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.