BCCI is all set to lift ban on the use of saliva for bowlers in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 which is slated to kick off from March 22. Sports Tak has learnt that BCCI will take the trend-setting call on saliva ban in the IPL 2025's captain's meet which will be staged on March 20.
A well placed source in the knowledge of development told Sports Tak that BCCI has asked captains to discuss use of saliva on ball.
"It's their call if they want to go ahead with that. We have no issue and we are okay with that and if going forward ICC will make changes it's again for the betterment for cricket," the source privy to the development told Sports Tak.
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Notably, International Cricket Council (ICC) initially implemented a temporary ban on the use of saliva to polish the ball in May 2020 in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic. This measure was introduced as a precautionary step to minimize the potential spread of the virus. Subsequently, in September 2022, the ICC decided to make this ban permanent, solidifying the change in playing conditions.
Earlier, India's pace maestro Mohammed Shami urged ICC to remove ban on the use of saliva for bowlers.
“We are trying to reverse, but you are not getting the use of saliva into the game 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,” Shami had said during Champions Trophy 2025.
Later, Tim Southee and Vernon Philander also echoes Shami's sentiment.
"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 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," Southee said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
Meanwhile, former South Africa's cricketer Vernon Philander had stated:
"If we look at the state of that ball, I mean towards the back end, it was really scuffed up, and I think had you used the saliva [to polish one side of the ball], the element of the reverse swing might have come into play," Philander said. "So it certainly does play a part. You can get it to shine up, and you use the elements to swing it a little longer. I'd like to see that element being brought back into the game because I think it's needed as well. I mean, especially in ODI cricket where we see batters really dominating, especially when you play on surfaces like we've just seen in Pakistan as well where it's really batter friendly".