Denying to have lodged a complaint about the quality of the pitch they played on and lost against Rajasthan Royals at Jaipur, Mumbai Indians on Wednesday accused the Royals and Rajasthan Cricket Association for sensationalising the issue of Sachin Tendulkar's post match comments and termed it as violation of the spirit of cricket.
Published: May 04, 2011, 11:34 AM (IST)
Edited: May 04, 2011, 11:34 AM (IST)
Mumbai skipper Sachin Tendulkar had criticised RCA for the quality of the pitch during their IPL match against Rajasthan © Getty Images
Mumbai: May 4, 2011
Denying to have lodged a complaint about the quality of the pitch they played on and lost against Rajasthan Royals at Jaipur, Mumbai Indians on Wednesday accused the Royals and Rajasthan Cricket Association for sensationalising the issue of Sachin Tendulkar’s post match comments and termed it as violation of the spirit of cricket.
“Mumbai Indians has not lodged any complaint to IPL on the nature of the pitch. It is disconcerting to note that Rajasthan Royals and a senior official of the Rajasthan Cricket Association are trying to sensationalise this issue,” a statement from the Mumbai franchise owned by the Reliance Industries, said.
Setting the record straight, MI stated that “there have been unsolicited, distasteful comments and personal remarks made, which is not in keeping with the spirit of the game”.
MI said that the post match comment made by Sachin Tendulkar, in reference to a specific question on the pitch was as follows: “It was a tough pitch, different to what we played on in Mumbai. Don’t want to take the credit away from Rajasthan, who bowled and fielded well.
“It was two-paced, the ball kept low. We lost early wickets, were not able to rotate strike. A score of 130 would have been a challenging total. We were not able to accelerate in the middle overs.”
Mumbai Indians’ reactions emerged after Rajasthan Cricket Association’s secretary Sanjay Dixit tweeted yesterday, accusing Mumbai as “sore losers” and “graceless” in defeat.
“Mumbai is known on the Ranji circuit as the most graceless side. Showing off their pedigree in IPL too,” Dixit had tweeted.
“Venkat Sundram (pitch regulator) came three days after marking of the pitch, and rubbished Mumbai’s claims. Sore losers. Did that in Ranji too,” he wrote while slamming Tendulkar for criticising the pitch on which MI were restricted to 94 for 8.
Shane Warne’s home team overhauled the modest target with seven wickets to spare and later the Aussie spin legend too hit out at Tendulkar for his comments about the quality of the pitch after the match.
News © PTI
