Credit: IPL
Following strategic timeouts and the Impact Player rule, IPL has come up with the ‘Second Ball’ rule, which will come into effect in the upcoming IPL 2025. It’s witnessed that dew makes bowlers helpless in night games as the condition get difficult for them to grip the ball. To solve the conundrum, the IPL has introduced the rule that will permit the use of the second ball in night matches. Under the new rule, on-field umpires will analyse the ball’s condition after the 11th over of the second innings. If the umpires feel there is excessive dew, the bowling side will be permitted to get a newer ball.
However, the rule will be applied to night matches only, not afternoon games. The rule’s objective is to help bowlers get a fairer playing conditions when dew is present. In the last few years, batters have gained advantage due to flat pitches and short boundaries, but this year, IPL has come up with the ‘Second Ball’ rule with the aim to balance between both bat and ball. IPL has also lifted the ban on the use of saliva during the captains’ meeting at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) headquarters in Mumbai on March 20, 2025.
Mohammed Siraj welcomes the lifting of ban on the use of saliva
India pacer Mohammed Siraj will be seen in Gujarat Titans’ (GT) colours in IPL 2025. The speedster looked delighted with the BCCI’s decision of doing away with the ban on saliva use. "It's very good for bowlers. It's excellent news for us bowlers because when the ball is not doing anything, applying saliva on the ball will increase the chances of finding some reverse swing," said Siraj while speaking to PTI.
Siraj, who was a vital part of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) from 2018 to 2024, will have to bolster GT’s fast-bowling attack with star speedsters Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma, and Gerald Coetzee. Siraj wasn’t a part of India’s Champions Trophy 2025 squad but he will look to be effective with the ball in the marquee T20 competition to win the place in Team India’s ODI team again.
