Mumbai Indians batting coach Kieron Pollard has been fined 15 per cent of the relevant match fee for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct by using abusive language towards the fourth umpire. The legendary former West Indies all-rounder also picked up one minus point for a Level 1 offence.
According to an IPL press release issued on Friday morning, Pollard was found to have breached Article 2.3 of the Code of Conduct, which deals with the use of audible obscenities during a match.
The flashpoint came in the 19th over of the second innings during Mumbai Indians’ match against Punjab Kings on Thursday night. Pollard pleaded guilty and accepted the punishment imposed by match referee Pankaj Dharmani.
PBKS vs MI: HIGHLIGHTS | SCORECARD
This is not the first time that the long-time Mumbai Indians associate has been punished for breaching the code of conduct in the past.
Tilak Varma stars in thriller Last-Ball
The disciplinary incident took place during a dramatic last-ball thriller in the hill town of Dharamsala, where Mumbai Indians won by six wickets. The defeat severely dented Punjab Kings’ playoff hopeswho have now slumped to their fifth defeat in a row and need to win both of their remaining matches to stay in contention for a top-four finish.
Chasing a competitive target of 201, Ryan Rickelton walked out for Mumbai Indians. With an explosive 23-ball 48, he single-handedly propelled his side to 59 for no loss and went on the attack despite Rohit Sharma’s scratchy 25 at the other end. Arshdeep Singh bowled two excellent overs with the new ball for Punjab, conceding just eight runs, but lacked support as Rickelton took a toll on Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen and Xavier Bartlett.
Punjab Kings defended by three wickets for 57 runs between the seventh and 13th overs, with Yuzvendra Chahal playing a brilliant spell to pull things back and bowl Rohit. However, Tilak Varma brilliantly anchored the chase with an unbeaten 33-ball 75. Varma first stitched a 42-ball 61 with Sherfane Rutherford and later combined with Will Jacks to steer Mumbai home in 19.5 overs, hitting two sixes in the final over to knock down the winning runs.
Shardul’s Four-Wicket Haul Limits PBKS
Earlier in the evening, Punjab Kings were asked to bat first and cross the 200-run mark for the eighth time this season. Prabhsimran Singh smashed 57, added a 33-ball 50-run opening stand with Priyansh Arya and another 57 runs with Cooper Connolly to take Punjab past the 100-run mark in the 12th over.
Shardul Thakur brought Mumbai Indians back into the game with a four-wicket burst to finish with figures of 4 for 39. Shardul struck twice in three balls to remove a well-set Prabhsimran and stand-in captain Shreyas Iyer. Raj Bawa then caught Connolly off guard and took a sharp catch to remove Suryansh Shedge off Shardul as Punjab slipped badly.
However, Azmatullah Omarzai led a late counter-attack in the death overs as he smashed a 17-ball 38 studded with two sixes and a four. Supported by late runs from Vishnu Vinod and Xavier Bartlett, Punjab managed to pile up 53 runs in the last three overs to post 200 for 8, a total that was eventually overshadowed by the brilliance of Tilak Varma.
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Issued by:
Amar Panicker
Published on:
May 15, 2026 11:06 AM IST
