Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Rohit Sharma has been fined Rs 24 lakhs for slow over-rate during their Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Wednesday (April 13). This is the second time that MI have been fined for the slow over-rate during the 2022 IPL season. The rest of the players were also fined Rs 6 lakhs or 25 per cent of their match fee, whichever is lower.
“The Mumbai Indians have been fined after they maintained a slow over-rate during their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 match against Punjab Kings at the MCA Stadium, Pune on April 13. This was the team’s second offence of the season under the IPL’s Code of Conduct relating to a minimum over-rate offence. The Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma was fined Rs 24 lakhs and the rest of the members in the playing eleven were fined Rs 6 lakhs or 25 per cent of their match fee, whichever is lower,” the IPL said in a statement.
This news adds salt to their wounds after MI moved closer to elimination following their fifth defeat on the trot against PBKS, who won the high-scoring thriller by 12 runs in Pune. PBKS set a target of 199 for Mumbai, which looked like a piece of cake for their batters, with teenagers Dewald Brevis (49 off 25 balls) and Tilak Varma (36 off 20 balls) smashing boundaries at the crease, but Punjab bowlers did well to restrict MI to 186/9 and win the match by 13 runs.
Villian in their previous match, Punjab's Odean Smith (4/30 in four overs) redeemed himself after his disappointment against Gujarat Titans (GT), where he picked up two wickets in the final over for Punjab. Meanwhile, for MI, eight wins in nine games with an underwhelming bowling attack is looking near impossible.
A positive for MI was the coming-of-age of South African Brevis' batting. After the 18-year-old got cracking with the bat, he hit 29 runs off Rahul Chahar's bowling, before losing his wicket to Odean, just one run short of his maiden IPL fifty.
At the other end of the pitch was Tilak, who has already made an impression this season. After Brevis did the heavy lifting, Tilak himself hit some marvellous sixes including an audacious slash over point off Smith but was unfortunately run out after a miscommunication with Suryakumar Yadav.
Tilak and Brevis added 84 runs in just 6.5 overs to turn the match head-on before their successive dismissals brought Punjab back in the game as their fortunes swung like a pendulum.
