Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli had nearly made a blunder of applying saliva on the ball against Delhi Capitals, but he stopped himself just on time. Though his reaction after the incident was hilarious as the RCB skipper stopped himself just on time from committing the mistake.
Earlier in June, the ICC announced a temporary ban on applying saliva on the ball due to the deadly Covid-19 pandemic to keep the players and umpires safe from the virus. However, the players are allowed to use sweat to shine the ball.
Virat Kohli, nonetheless, forgot the rule for a while but recalled it before making the mistake. The incident took place on the third ball of the third over bowled by Navdeep Saini. Prithvi Shaw’s cracking drive was stopped by the RCB star at the short cover and he was then seen putting his finger on his tongue.
But before touching the ball, he realised the mistake he was about to commit and stopped himself. The batting superstar was perhaps amused by his quick thinking as he broke into laughter before passing the ball to his teammate.
Batting legend Sachin Tendulkar also saw the incident and he was quick to react to it. The former India batsman took to Twitter to praise one of Prithvi Shaw’s shot before saying that Virat Kohli’s reaction was a ‘million dollar reaction’, tweeting:“What an incredible shot by @PrithviShaw there! A million dollar reaction by@imVkohli after almost applying saliva on the ball. Sometimes instincts takeover!”