IPL 2021: Rohit Sharma unhappy with umpire after being wrongly given out in PBKS vs MI match

On Friday, April 23, Mumbai Indians (MI) slumped to their third defeat in five matches in the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Rohit Sharma-led unit went down to the Punjab Kings (PBKS) by nine wickets with 14 balls left at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. During the game at the Chepauk, Rohit, the MI skipper, had a number of agonising moments.

One of them came in the very first over after PBKS won the toss and elected to field first. KL Rahul handed the new ball to Moises Henriques and the latter managed to send some jitters in the MI camp. In the fifth delivery of the over, on-field umpire Shamsuddin gave Rohit out after the latter was deemed to be caught down the leg side by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock.

On an immediate basis, Rohit took the Decision Review System (DRS) and he used it to good effect. Replays showed that the ball had brushed Rohit’s shirt on its way to the keeper. Hence, the decision was overturned. In the meantime, while he walked down to de Kock after taking the DRS, Rohit seemed to have hurled a few stern words while pointing towards the umpire.

We are not able to bat 20 overs in the fashion we want: Rohit Sharma

After the reprieve, Rohit went on to score 63 runs off 52 balls with five fours and two sixes. But his team could only manage 131 runs for the loss of six wickets. The veteran felt that the MI batters are yet to hit their straps and ‘application’ is missing in their batting.

“Not enough runs. I still feel it is not a bad wicket to bat on. You saw how Punjab Kings batted and won the game with 9 wickets in hand. It is just the application that is missing in our batting. If you get 150-160 on this wicket then you are always in the game, that is something we failed to do in the last two games,” Rohit was quoted as saying after the match.

“You can look at it, either way, I thought their bowlers bowled well in the powerplay, Ishan was trying to hit but couldn’t get it and even I was not able to hit. We have batted well in the powerplay previously but today we failed to do so. Something is missing in our batting lineup, we are not able to bat 20 overs in the fashion we want,” he added.