Watch: Mohammad Amir Applies Saliva On The Ball Twice Against England

Old habits die hard and Pakistan fast-bowler Mohammad Amir proved it once again on Friday during the ongoing T20I against England in Manchester. The left-arm pacer was spotted applying saliva on the ball while bowling.

In June, the International Cricket Council (ICC) had announced a temporary ban on applying saliva to the ball in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic to keep the players and umpires safe from virus transmission. However, the players are allowed to use sweat to shine the ball.

“Players will not be permitted to use saliva to shine the ball. 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.

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 recommences,” ICC had stated earlier.

Mohammad Amir forgets the rules:

While bowlers have done a good job so far as far as not applying saliva on the ball is concerned, Mohammad Amir struggled to do so. The Pakistan star made the mistake in his very first international game since cricket action was halted around the world in March.

The incident occurred while he was bowling the fourth over of the innings and his very first over. Before bowling the third ball of the over, he was seen applying saliva on the ball. And he repeated the mistake again while walking back towards his bowling mark.

Here is a clip of the incident;

Mohammad Amir’s about to do another 5 years in the gulag pic.twitter.com/BJ0zaMcOTO

— Essex League Cricketer (@EssexLeague_) August 28, 2020

The umpires were finally seen sanitising the ball after the fifth over ended. The official was seen wiping the ball with some sanitiser. It also looked like Pakistan did not get any warning from the officials.

This is not the first time a player has applied saliva on the ball after the resumption of international cricket. England batsman Dominic Sibley had also applied saliva on the ball during the second Test against West Indies, prompting on-field umpire Michael Gough to sanitise the ball quickly.

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