Rohit Sharma reacts to Lasith Malinga’s last ball no-ball vs RCB

Rohit Sharma reacts to Lasith Malinga’s last ball: The Mumbai Indians’ skipper was disappointed at the howler despite it working for his team.

Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma expressed disappointment at the umpiring howler around his bowler Lasith Malinga bowling a last ball no-ball against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2019. In a 188-run chase, Royal Challengers required seven runs to win off the last ball.

Given Malinga’s experience in such situations, the veteran cricketer made sure that rookie all-rounder Shivam Dube doesn’t score a six off the last ball. After the match got over, replays confirmed that Malinga had overstepped and that umpire S Ravi had overstepped.

“Umpiring errors not good for cricket”

Speaking during the post-match presentation, Sharma highlighted the umpire signalling a Jasprit Bumrah delivery as wide when it appeared to be inside the line and didn’t hesitate from saying that these kind of mistake are not good for cricket. “I just got to know when we crossed the rope. Somebody just told me it was a no-ball. These kind of mistakes are not good for the game of cricket, it’s pretty simple.

ALSO READ: Virat Kohli reacts to Lasith Malinga’s last ball no-ball vs RCB

“The over before that Bumrah bowled a ball which wasn’t a wide. Those are game-changers. There’s a TV up there, they have to watch what’s happening. It is as simple as that. Players can’t do much. The only thing they can do is walk off and shake hands because it was the last ball. It’s disappointing to see that. I hope they rectify their mistakes like we do when we make mistakes,” Sharma was quoted as saying.

“We didn’t panic”

After being put in to bat by RCB captain Virat Kohli, Mumbai ended up posting 187-8 in their allotted quota of 20 overs. On being asked about the score Indians were looking to post, Sharma considered anything over 180+ to be a “good score”.

After winning their first match in IPL 2019, Sharma laid emphasis on sticking to their strengths when the likes of Kohli and AB de Villiers were batting. “Anything over 180 is a good score. You can fight with it. We know the conditions here and we got the bowlers to get the job done. It is not a safe score.

“We were in the game even though Virat and AB were batting. We didn’t panic, we kept sticking to our strengths. From 7 overs to 15 overs, it’s a crucial phase. We stuck to our plans and I think it was a great effort from the bowling unit,” Sharma concluded.

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