Aakash Chopra says removal of saliva ban tilted the match in Delhi Capitals’ favor against Rajasthan Royals

Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra believes removal of saliva ban in the ongoing IPL 2025 helped Delhi Capitals register a thrilling Super Over win against Rajasthan Royals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Wednesday.

Before the start of IPL 2025, the BCCI decided to lift the saliva ban, making life a bit easier for the bowlers. Saliva was banned after Covid-19 had broken out.

Chopra reckons Mitchell Starc was able to get the ball to reverse with the help of saliva against the inaugural champions. Starc was able to nail his yorkers and got the ball to tail back into the batters in the 20th over as well as the Super Over.

The Australian defended nine runs in the final over whereas he conceded only 11 runs in the Super Over despite bowling a no-ball.

“The Super Over happened because the ball reverse swung. Why did the ball reverse swing? It’s because of the rule made this year to remove the saliva ban. As soon as you remove the saliva ban, suddenly, the ball starts reverse swinging. Of course, dew shouldn’t be there, or else nothing would happen,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.

“Saliva is really heavy as compared to sweat, it doesn’t have salt, and the ball starts moving to the heavier side. We saw that with Mitchell Starc. He nailed yorkers one after the other. He changed the match that Rajasthan should have won easily. The match went to the Super Over, and he bowled the Super Over as well, and that was the game. One rule that changed the game,” he added.

On the other hand, the renowned commentator reckons Tristan Stubbs and Axar Patel were able to help DC post a decent score on the board after scoring 34 runs each.

“Delhi were invited to bat first. Jake Fraser-McGurk isn’t playing well. (Abishek) Porel played well. The game became very slow. Rahul was going at almost a run-a-ball. Everyone started trolling him. Then Stubbs and Axar hit in the end and took the team to a decent total,” he said (4:35) in the same video.