Royal Challengers Bangalore were undone by poor umpiring in their second match of the season against Mumbai Indians. Virat Kohli-led team needed 7 runs on the last ball of the match but Lasith Malinga managed to keep it tight and gave away just one run. Mumbai Indians won the game by 6 runs to record their first win of the season while RCB lost their second consecutive game. After the game was over, TV replays showed that Malinga had overstepped which was not spotted by the on-field umpire.
The incident became a talking point after the match with both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma criticized the decision. While Rohit said that it was an unfortunate incident, Virat Kohli lambasted the umpiring standard during the game.
Former and current cricketers too criticized the decision.
Malinga’s last ball was a no-ball….BIG one. Umpire missed it. Colossal error. Unbelievable. #RCBvMI #IPL
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) 28 March 2019
High quality cricket tonight. Wow!
Yuvi, Hardik, Chahal, Umesh, Virat, AB, Bumrah & Malinga all taking the game to great heights, before it all came crashing down with that last ball no ball miss. Unforgivable mistake.#VIVOIPL2019 #RCBvMI— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) 28 March 2019
Technology should be used much more often in cricket … so many front foot no-balls missed all the time in all formats and only checked on dismissal. Should be as simple as 3rd umpire telling the umpire through ear piece that a no ball has been bowled.
— Faf Du Plessis (@faf1307) 28 March 2019
It would have been better if Shivam Dube was out on the last ball, seems like that is the only way umpires would have checked the #noball
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) 28 March 2019
Since so many are bringing this up, there is currently no use of technology to help the umpire with a no-ball. It has been widely discussed but not implemented.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) 28 March 2019
In an era of so much technology and with so much at stake NO BALLS should never ever be missed …. #JustSaying #IPL2019
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) 28 March 2019
In the world of technology that we live in, a NO BALL like that should NOT happen!
End Of Story!
— Kevin Pietersen? (@KP24) 28 March 2019
“We are playing at the IPL level and not playing club cricket. The umpires should have had their eyes open. That is a ridiculous call (last ball). If it is a game of margins, I don’t know what is happening. They should have been more sharp and careful out there. When they were 145 for 7, we should have done better. The last few overs were brutal for us,” Kohli said at the post-match presser.