The Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli stormed into Indian Premier League’s referee’s room and hurled abuses at him after Umpire failed to give No-Ball during a match against Mumbai Indians (MI) on Thursday.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore lost to Mumbai Indians and following the match, controversy erupted when the last bowl bowled by Lasith Malinga was a No-Ball.
Hosts Bangalore needed seven to win the match off the final delivery when Mumbai’s Lasith Malinga bowled a dot ball, but replays suggested the bowler had overstepped the line.
A no-ball would not only have given Bangalore one extra run but also a free hit and a chance to win the game they eventually lost by six runs.
After the end of the match, Kohli expressed his anger during the post-match conference and lashed out at the umpires and said, “We are playing at the IPL level and not playing club cricket. The umpires should have had their eyes open. That’s a ridiculous call at the last ball.”
Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma, whose team registered their first win of the Twenty20 tournament, also said such mistakes were “not good for the game”.
It was on-field umpire Sundaram Ravi, India’s only representative in ICC’s Elite panel, who was responsible for the missed no-ball.