IND vs ENG: England risk being slapped with penalty after Stokes applies saliva on the ball

In the times of the COVID-19 pandemic, cricket is being played with several new rules to ensure that the players and officials remain safe. One of the main rules has been the ban on saliva use which was an integral part of the game. The players used to apply saliva on the ball to maintain shine in order to extract swing and reverse swing.

But in the times of the pandemic, the players have been barred by the ICC from using saliva. However, they are allowed to apply sweat on the ball. As far as the players are concerned, they have done really well to ensure that they don’t use saliva on the ball since cricket resumed in July last year. However, there have been some exceptional cases when players mistakenly applied saliva to the ball.

Cricket in the #COVID19 era! Umpire sanitising the ball after Ben Stokes used saliva. The next time someone does so, the batting team gets five runs.#INDvsENG pic.twitter.com/cuwPxPoxK8

— Samanway Banerjee (@qriosam) February 24, 2021

And such a case was witnessed on Wednesday during day one of the ongoing third Test between India and England in Ahmedabad. England all-rounder Ben Stokes mistakenly applied saliva on the ball and the umpires were quick to clean the ball with sanitiser. As per the rules, England will be slapped with a five-run penalty if any other player from their team commits the mistake again.