Mumbai Indians (MI) bowling coach Paras Mhambrey defended Deepak Chahar who dropped a catch and nearly dropped another due to collision with wicketkeeper Ryan Rickelton in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Mhambrey said that he wouldn’t put Chahar under the train for the missed opportunities.
In the 10th over, skipper Hardik Pandya got a top edge off Rovman Powell’s bat with a short delivery. The ball was going towards deep square leg. Chahar was in position to take the catch whereas Robin Minz was in the peripheral vision. The ball ended up landing between them leading to an argument and Pandya ended up getting frustrated.
ALSO READ: Huge blow to KKR as their top run-scorer in IPL 2026 likely to miss must-win game vs DC
"No one does it on purpose. You drop catches. It just happens, part of the game," Mhambrey said in the post match press conference. "Not something that we're going to dwell too much on, honestly. Yes, if you look at it in hindsight and say, 'okay, fine, that catch [Powell] at that stage would have been 15, 20 runs extra', yeah. But I'm not going to blame anyone out here. If you look at Corbin [Bosch], he took a brilliant catch [at point, to send back Powell off AM Ghazanfar]. So you compensate it for that, right?"
Mhambrey on Chahar-Rickelton collision
Later in the innings, Corbin Bosch got a leading edge off Tejasvi Dahiya's bat. The ball was in front of the fine leg and both Ryan Rickelton and Chahar were going for the catch. The two teammates had a collision but Rickelton managed to hold on to the catch. Mhambrey said that Chahar was jus trying to contribute to the team after missing Powell's catch. He refused to blame the pacer for the collision.
"There are too many things happening. Look at Deepak or anybody, I'm just saying you think about the game, right? You think about what how I can make a difference in maybe one over that's left. So you constantly think [about contributing] and that can happen. You know, it's not the first time that has happened and I'm sure it's going to happen again. I would [not] blame, put Deepak under the train out here, definitely not," said the former India bowling coach.
Chahar strikes early, takes out imaginary chit
Earlier, Chahar struck with the new ball as he knocked over an in-form KKR opener Finn Allen for a single-digit score. He conceded 23 runs from three overs he bowled. After the early breakthrough, he mocked players taking chit out of their pockets to celebrate wickets.
MI ended up losing the match by four wickets. This was their ninth defeat of the season. Their next game is at home against Rajasthan Royals (RR) on May 24.