It's IPL and not club cricket: Virat Kohli fumes at umpires after Lasith Malinga's no-ball goes unnoticed
Virat Kohli on Thursday minced no words to criticize the on-field umpires after they failed to notice Lasith Malinga's no-ball in the 20th over of the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Royal Challengers Bangalore needed 17 runs off the last over which was bowled by Malinga. After being hit for a six by Shivam Dube in the first ball, Malinga came back strongly to give away just 4 runs in the next four balls.
Needing six to take the game into Super Over, Malinga's final delivery to Dube was a no-ball that was missed by the on-field umpires as RCB managed 181 for 5 in reply to 187 for 8 by Mumbai Indians.
What hurt them more was AB de Villiers, who nearly took his team to the victory with an unbeaten 70 off 41 balls would have faced the free-hit. Both umpires C Nandan and ICC Elite Panel's S Ravi bungled completely leaving Virat Kohli seething in anger.
Replays on the screen showed that Malinga overstepped on the last ball but it went unnoticed.
Kohli was seen furious and the home crowd was clearly unhappy.
"We are playing at the IPL level and not playing club cricket. The umpires should have had their eyes open. That is a ridiculous call at the last ball. If it is a game of margins, I don't know what is happening. They should have been more sharp and careful out there," Kohli said after the match.
Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma too echoed with Kohli's sentiments.
"I just got to know when we crossed the rope. These kind of things are not good for cricket, one of the Bumrah's deliveries wasn't a wide. Players can't do much. Very disappointed to see that," he said.
