Key Points
BCCI removes saliva ban for IPL 2025
Bowlers might gain strategic advantage with ball manipulation
Impact Player rule continues unchanged
Experts discuss potential game-changing implications
Bowlers will be allowed to use saliva on the ball in IPL 2025. The decision was made by IPL following a meeting on Thursday at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai, where most of the franchise captains expressed support for the change to the decision-makers of the tournament, as per a report by ESPNcricinfo.
"I don't know what impact it is going to put, but by using saliva, the ball's weight will change, and in the slog overs, it will reverse and eventually create difficulty for the batters. Now it is to be seen which bowler can take advantage of this." Atul Wassan told ANI.
Meanwhile, the much-debated Impact Player rule, introduced in IPL 2023, will continue to be a part of the tournament. The rule allows teams to substitute one player during a match, adding a strategic element to the game.
ICC umpire Anil Chaudhary said earlier there was super subs.
"It is a different angle of the game. Earlier, we had super subs, and now we have impact players. This is what people like in the game, and there is a committee to decide on this," Anil Chaudhary told ANI.
Yashasvi Jaiswal's coach Jwala Singh also spoke about the impact player rule. He said it gives options.
"Impact players is an option you get in whichever department you fail. You can add bowlers and batters, so in short, you are playing with 12 players. If opening batter is out, you can get any batter on the team as an impact player. This benefits the team but it is important when to use it. It is a rule in IPL as they want to entertain people. At the end of the day, everything has advantages and disadvantages. According to me, the 12th man is playing, that's all." Jwala Singh told ANI.
Fast bowlers feel that using saliva will also help add to their craft in the Test matches.
