Virat Kohli was almost going to apply saliva on the ball by accident during the IPL 2020 match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals. His reaction realizing the same gave a good laugh to the netizens.
Kohli forgets the saliva-using rule
In the third ball of the third over of the Delhi Capitals innings, Prithvi Shaw went for a cover drive off RCB seamer Navdeep Saini’s delivery. Kohli was standing at short cover and immediately stopped the ball. But after picking it from the ground, Kohli nearly applied saliva on the ball. He would have violated the ICC’s COVID-19 protocol if he would not have checked himself and raised his hands to acknowledge the slip-up. The video did not take time to become viral on social people and people started having a good lough over captain Kohli’s reaction. Even Sachin Tendulkar took to Twitter to applaud Shaw’s drive and posted about Kohli’s reaction as well.
“What an incredible shot by @PrithviShaw there! A million dollar reaction by @imVkohli after almost applying saliva on the ball. Sometimes instincts take over!” Tendulkar tweeted.
https://twitter.com/sachin_rt/status/1313120919439671298
ICC notification
Rajasthan Royals player Robin Uthappa was seen doing the same last week while playing against Kolkata Knight Riders. Using saliva on the ball had been banned by the ICC following the COVID-19 pandemic in June this year. The Standard Operating Procedure of ICC had stated, “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.”
It continued, “A team can be issued up to two warnings per innings but repeated use of saliva on the ball will result in a 5-run penalty to the batting side. Whenever saliva is applied to the ball, the umpires will be instructed to clean the ball before play recommenced.”
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