Robin Uthappa's dark night: Caught applying saliva on ball, goes past Virat Kohli in unwanted record

Dubai, October 1: Rajasthan Royals batsman Robin Uthappa seemed to have accidentally applied saliva on the ball while fielding in their IPL 2020 match against Kolkata Knight Riders here on Wednesday (September 30).

The video of Uthappa purportedly applying saliva on the ball after he dropped Sunil Narine in the fifth ball of third over went viral on social media.

The ICC has already notified a ban on the use of saliva to shine the ball in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"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," the ICC had said in a notification.

"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 recommenced."

Kolkata Knight Riders won the match by 37 runs to jump to second spot in the IPL points table after back-to-back wins.

The 34-year-old Uthappa also courted another unwanted record when he surpassed Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli as the player who has been part of most number of IPL defeats. Kohi was on top with 90 defeats, and now Uthappa has gone ahead of him with 91 defeats.

KKR captain Dinesh Karthik is third on the list with 87 defeats and Rohit Sharma a close fourth with 85 defeats.

On the defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders, Uthappa said the Royals batsmen would have taken a bit of time at the crease rather than going for shots straightaway. He said the pitch was also getting "tired" towards the second innings, gripping the ball.