ROHIT FINED BUT HARBHAJAN BACKS MUMBAI INDIANS SKIPPER

After his whirlwind knock on Saturday, Dhoni again found the going tough, eating up 10 balls for his seven runs on Monday against Mumbai Indians on the slow Wankhede Stadium pitch. “Here (in India), we start criticising if someone has one or two bad matches. He (Dhoni) is a quality player and we all know what he has done for India and the IPL. It is an important game, and rather than thinking what he can do, I think what KKR will do is all that matters,” added Gambhir, who played crucial knocks under Dhoni’s captaincy in the finals of the

2007 World Twenty20 and the

2011 World Cup.

The KKR skipper is wary of the

After a fine 19th over bowled by Rising Pune Supergiant’s Ben Stokes on Monday night, Mumbai Indians were left to get 17 runs in six balls in their IPL clash. It was a stiff target, but by no means impossible, especially with a well-set Rohit Sharma at the crease.

When Rohit smashed the second ball for six, the pressure was back on the bowler, Jaydev Unadkat. The left-arm pacer tried to fire the next ball wide of the batsman. It was out of reach for Rohit and when the umpire didn’t call it a wide, the MI skipper walked up to the umpire to contest the call.

Even in these times of ugly face-offs, it is rare for a batsman to walk up to the umpire and get involved in an argument. The result was Rohit Sharma being fined 50 % of his match fee for dissent.

Harbhajan Singh defended his captain. “He wanted to check what the actual rule is, where he needs to stand. He didn’t shout at the umpire or ask why it wasn’t given a wide. He was told that the amount he moves is the amount of margin the bowler gets,” he said.

“I mean ball toh kaafi bahar tha (was quite wide). I don’t really know if it was a wide or not. If both the legs move, then the bowler should get the margin. If only one leg moves, like it had happened, then I feel it is a wide. In the end, you have to go with the umpire’s decision.”

Pune’s Ajinkya Rahane backed the umpire’s call, but declined to get into a debate. “I think it was the right call. As a batsman when you move, that area goes to the bowler. Rohit’s behaviour at that point was natural. As a captain, as a player, when the game is so close, it comes automatically, nobody thinks these things through and then do them. I don’t think it was wrong on his part.