Mumbai Indians’ Hardik Pandya and Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) Chris Morris have been reprimanded for breaching the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) Code of Conduct. Mumbai Indians and RCB competed against each other in the league here on Wednesday. Mumbai Indians secured a five-wicket win over the Virat Kohli-led side.
“Chris Morris, the Royal Challengers Bangalore all-rounder, has been reprimanded for breaching the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) Code of Conduct during his team’s match against Mumbai Indians at Abu Dhabi,” IPL said in an official release.
It also stated: “Hardik Pandya, the Mumbai Indians all-rounder, has been reprimanded for breaching the IPL’s Code of Conduct during his team’s match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at Abu Dhabi.” The statement said that Morris has admitted to the Level 1 offence 2.5 and Pandya has admitted to the Level 1 offence 2.20 of the IPL’s Code of Conduct. For Level 1 breaches of the Code of Conduct, the Match Referee’s decision is final and binding.
Suryakumar Yadav’s 79 off 43 balls powered Mumbai Indians to a five-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore here at Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Wednesday. Chasing 165, MI openers Quinton de Kock and Ishan Kishan started well for the side and stitched a 37-run stand but the duo failed to convert their knocks into big innings. De Kock played a knock of 18 runs while Kishan smashed 25 off 19.
Suryakumar Yadav and Saurabh Tiwary then had a 20-run brief partnership for the third wicket. The latter departed of the bowling of Mohammed Siraj after a spectacular full-length dive by Devdutt Padikkal at mid-off. Krunal Pandya then joined Yadav in the middle and added a 35-run stand for the fourth wicket. In the 14th over, Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed Krunal Pandya (10) and provided the much-needed breakthrough for the side.
Hardik Pandya and Yadav then accumulated 51 runs together before the former was removed by Chris Morris in the 19th over. Hardik played a knock of 17 runs. Yadav remained unbeaten on 79 studded with three sixes and 10 fours while Kieron Pollard (4) smashed the winning boundary as Mumbai chased the score in 19.1 overs.
For RCB, Chahal and Siraj bagged two wickets each. Earlier, Jasprit Bumrah’s three-wicket haul helped Mumbai Indians restrict Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to 164/6 in the allotted twenty overs. Sent into bat first, RCB got off to a good start as openers Joshua Philippe and Devdutt Padikkal put on 54 runs inside the first six overs. Both batsmen eventually put up an opening stand of 71 runs.
The partnership was finally broken by Rahul Chahar in the eighth over as he had Philippe (33). Virat Kohli then joined Padikkal in the middle and the duo stitched together a brief 24-run stand. In search of a wicket, Kieron Pollard brought Jasprit Bumrah into the attack and the pacer did not disappoint as he bounced out Kohli (9), reducing RCB to 95/2 in the 12th over.
AB de Villiers then joined Padikkal in the middle and both batsmen changed the tempo of the innings by playing big shots consistently. Both batsmen put together 36 runs for the third wicket, but Pollard provided the crucial breakthrough of de Villiers (15), reducing RCB to 131/3 in the 16th over.
In the very next over, Bumrah sent Shivam Dube (2) and the set batsman Padikkal (74) back to the pavilion, and this put RCB’s innings in a spot of bother at 134/5 in the 17th over. In the final overs, RCB kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and as a result, the side was restricted to under the 165-run mark.
For Mumbai, Jasprit Bumrah scalped three wickets while Trent Boult, Deepak Chahar, and Pollard took one wicket each.
Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 164/6 (Devdutt Padikkal 74, Joshua Philippe 33, Jasprit Bumrah 3-14) lost to Mumbai Indians 166/5 in 19.1 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 79*, Y Chahal 2-35, M Siraj 2-28) by five wickets.
