Virat Kohli drives to long-off © BCCI
Virat Kohli was fuming against the standard of umpiring in the IPL after the big screen showed replays of the final delivery of the match – a no-ball that wasn’t spotted by the officials.
Royal Challengers Bangalore needed seven runs to win the game and six to tie. But Lasith Malinga was able to hit close enough to the blockhole that the batsman, Shivam Dube, could only bunt it down to long-on. S Ravi was the umpire at the bowler’s end and he missed the fact that the Sri Lankan spearhead had overstepped. Had it been spotted, RCB would have gotten a Free Hit and AB de Villiers, who was batting on 70 off 41, would have been on strike.
“We are playing at IPL level, not club cricket,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation. “That’s just a ridiculous call off the last ball. the umpires should have their eyes open, it was a no-ball by an inch. it’s a completely different game altogether. so if it’s a game of margins, I don’t know what’s happening. They should have been more sharp and more careful out there.”
Even the winning captain Rohit Sharma too was unhappy by the turn of events: “These kinds of mistakes are not good for the game of cricket. The over before that, Bumrah bowled a ball which wasn’t a wide ball. They have to watch what is happening. The players can’t do much about it. Just walk off and shake hands. It is disappointing to see that but I hope they can rectify their mistakes like we do”
More to follow
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo