Mumbai Indians coach Mahela Jayawardene takes dig at IPL 2017 umpires

Mumbai Indians were once again victims of umpiring howlers during their thrilling win over Kolkata Knight Riders in Sunday’s IPL 2017 T20 clash, and coach Mahela Jayawardene didn’t seem pleased by some of the decisions

Mumbai Indians coach Mahela Jayawardene made a sarcastic remark as poor umpiring continues to haunt his team in the 2017 Indian Premier League (IPL). (FULL IPL 2017 COVERAGE)

Mumbai Indians coach Mahela Jayawardene wasn’t pleased by some of the decisions against his side during the IPL 2017 T20 clash against Kolkata Knight Riders.(PTI)

Although the Rohit Sharma-led team managed to end up on the winning side against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, MI were once again victims of umpiring howlers.

Opener Jos Buttler was again dismissed due to a dubious umpiring decision as the ball was clearly missing the leg stump when Ankit Rajpoot’s fullish delivery made impact on his pads.

MI skipper Rohit too was adjudged leg-before despite a big inside edge. He was reprimanded for showing dissent to the umpires.

READ | Rohit Sharma reprimanded for showing dissent during MI vs KKR IPL T20

MI were victims of umpiring errors in their opening IPL-10 clash against Rising Pune Supergiants as well.

The umpire failed to pick the huge inside edge onto Butler’s pads. MI’s Kieron Pollard was lucky to survive a leg-before decision which looked clearly plumbed off Imran Tahir. In this case, MS Dhoni was reprimanded for showing the DRS sign after the umpire turned down the appeal.

Jayawardene is hoping that the opposition takes MI’s wickets and not the umpires. “It happens. It is not in our control. I don’t think anyone makes those mistakes. But wish for a change that the opposition can take our wickets,” he said in the post-match ceremony.

The IPL-10 has seen majority of Indian umpires officiating and only a handful of elite international level umpires. In the previous IPL editions, a foreign umpire would officiate with an Indian domestic umpire.

READ | Life in Gurudwara to IPL success, Rishabh Pant’s story of big sacrifices

Domestic stalwart S Badrinath was spot on with his remark. “Seeing a lot of domestic umpires in this seasons @IPL, and the umpiring standards have been way below par...arguably the worst,” he tweeted before firing another one: “Among all #IPL seasons poor umpiring standards have prevailed for ages in domestic circuit, its just being highlighted through #IPL2017.”

Jayawardene too was concerned regarding the overall umpiring standards in the ongoing IPL so far. “It is the beginning of the IPL. It is not an easy job for the umpires as well. It is a high profile tournament. There is a lot of spotlight on everyone - not just the players, coaches, administration, franchisees, but the umpires as well. Yes, it is natural, but let’s hope they (umpires) will be more consistent when we go into the deep end of the tournament and we can try and rectify some of the issues that we have,” Jayawardene said.