Mumbai coach Jayawardene hits out at umpiring howlers
MUMBAI: Mumbai Indians coach Mahela Jayawardene made a sarcastic remark as poor umpiring continued to haunt his team. It, however, didn’t affect them as the Rohit Sharma-led team beat KKR at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.
Opener Jos Buttler again got a dubious umpiring decision as the ball was clearly missing the leg stump when Ankit Rajpoot’s fullish delivery hit his pads. MI skipper Rohit too was adjudged leg before despite an inside edge.
MI faced umpiring errors in their opening clash against Pune Supergiants too. The umpire failed to pick an inside edge onto Buttler’s pads. MI’s Kieron Pollard was lucky to survive a leg before decision off Imran Tahir which looked out. In this case, MS Dhoni was reprimanded for showing the DRS sign after the umpire turned down the appeal.
Jayawardene is hoping that the opposition takes MI’s wickets and not the umpires. “It happens. It is not in our control. I don’t think anyone makes those mistakes. But wish for a change that the opposition can take our wickets,” he said in the postmatch media conference.
The IPL-10 has seen majority of Indian umpires officiating and only a handful of elite international level umpires. In the previous IPL editions, a foreign umpire would officiate with an Indian domestic umpire.
Jayawardene too was concerned regarding the overall umpiring standards in the ongoing IPL. “It is the beginning of the IPL. It is not an easy job for the umpires as well. It is a high profile tournament.
“There is a lot of spotlight on everyone — not just the players — coaches, administration, franchisees, but the umpires as well. Yes, it is natural, but let’s hope they (umpires) will be more consistent when we go into the deep end of the league,” Jayawardene said.
‘IT HAPPENS IN T20’ Jayawardene said he has seen enough T20 not to be surprised by the manner in which his side pulled off a sensational victory on Sunday. “It’s a funny game. I have seen enough
T20 cricket, it happens. A bit of pressure and a few good shots created this opportunity for us,” Jayawardene said.
“I am pretty pleased and I am glad two young players (Nitish Rana and Hardik Pandya ) carried us through in the match.”