England all-rounder Ben Stokes on Wednesday applied saliva to the
match-ball accidentally after the 12th over of the Indian innings during
the third Test at the Narendra Modi Stadium. In purview
of the COVID-19, the application of saliva to the ball has been banned by the International Cricket Council
(ICC). After the application, the match umpire was seen sanitising the ball.

ICC rules state that a repeated offence will be leading to five runs
being subtracted from the total of the batting side.

Also read: Axar Patel: Rise of India’s third Test hero against England

A team can be issued up to two warning per innings pertaining to the
offence, and only after exceeding it does the aforementioned scenario come into
play.

The hosts dominated the first half of the day, as India’s Axar Patel
picked up six wickets at the expense of 38 runs. Together, Ravichandran Ashwin
and Patel stunted the England innings at 113 runs.

Batting was visibly not as easy a task, as the first wicket for the
home team was lost in the 15th over. Young opener Shubman Gill tried
to send the ball flying on the leg side, only for the ball to be edging on the
upper surface of the bat, resulting in an easy catch for Zak Crawley.

Also read: 3rd Test: Indian spinners Axar Patel, R Ashwin wreak havoc in day-night Test in Ahmedabad

Later on, India lost the wickets of Cheteshwar Pujara and importantly,
captain Virat Kohli.

Pujara went back to the pavilion by way of an LBW, and Kohli, not
being able to decipher a clever, straight ball from Jack Leach, tried to
seemingly play a cut shot, but instead committed an inside edge, as the ball removed
the bells off the wicket.