Instincts are something that is hard to get over and change in a short period of time. It is the same with the cricketers who are struggling to come to terms with the saliva ban which has been forced by the ICC due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.
In the ongoing IPL 2020, we have already seen Rajasthan Royals’ Robin Uthappa forgetting about this rule and applied saliva on the ball and in the 19th match of the IPL 13 between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Delhi Capitals (DC), RCB captain Virat Kohli almost did the same thing but stopped in the nick of the time.
Fielding at short cover during his team’s game against DC, Kohli did not let the ball that was headed in his direction at a great speed, go past him. He stopped the ball and just before handing it to the bowler, instinctively started to apply saliva on the ball.
However, he realized in time and mouthed to someone that he was about to use spit on the ball.
Here is the video:
Kohli’s folly was picked up by batting great Sachin Tendulkar as well and he mentioned it in his tweet. Tendulkar tweeted, “What an incredible shot by @PrithviShaw there! A million dollar reaction by @imVkohli after almost applying saliva on the ball. Sometimes instincts takeover! ???? RCBvDC #IPL2020”
DC ended up with 196/4 in 20 overs with Stoinis making 53* in 26 balls, Shaw making 42, Dhawan making 32 and Pant’s 37. Mohammed Siraj was the best RCB bowler with 2/34 in 4 overs.
