Mumbai Indians Launch Official Complaint Against Suresh Shastri!

The Mumbai Indians management has launched an official complaint against the third umpire Suresh Shastri. The complaint was over two dubious decisions given by him during the match against Kings XI Punjab, in which Mumbai Indian lost by one run.

Sachin expressed dissatisfaction on the poor umpiring decisions and said that those two runs would have saved his team.

The loss against Kings XI Punjab has made Mumbai's chances of entering semi-finals difficult. They have to win their remaining matches or wait for other teams--Delhi Daredvils an Chennai Super Kings to lose their matches.

The first incident was the run out of Luke Pomersbach of Kings XI Punjab. Shaun Pollock's throw from deep extra cover appeared to have hit the stumps directly with the batsman short of his crease. Since the TV replays were not conclusive, the umpire went in favor of the batsman. The batsman was on 21 then and finally scored 79.

The second incident was the run out of Smith. Smith was struggling to reach his crease while the bowler Piyush Chawla appeared to have knocked the bail with hims arm keeping the ball in the hand. Once again the TV replays were not helping.

The coach of Mumbai Indians Lalchand Rajput confirmed that the franchise owners have filed an official complaint.

Tendulkar said, "the whole world has watched what it was all about. Everyone has seen what happened and in whose favour the decisions eventually went. Had we got those two run-out decisions our way, we would have added two more runs to the tally and won the match."

Shastri, however, defended his decisions, saying he went by the law. "I don't want to make any comments. I can only say I went by law 28.1 (The wicket is down)." The law states that a dismissal is made if a bail is completely removed from the top of the stumps, or a stump is struck out of the ground by (i) the ball, (ii) the striker's bat, whether he is holding it or has let go of it, (iii) the striker's person or by any part of his clothing or equipment becoming detached from his person, (iv) a fielder, with his hand or arm, providing that the ball is held in the hand or hands so used, or in the hand of the arm so used.

Mumbai played without Harbhajan and Sachin!

Mumbai Indians have already lost all of their 3 matches in the IPL. In all the matches, Sachin did not play and Harbhajan Singh was leading the side.

It was a crucial encounter for Mumbai Indians when they take on Deccan Chargers on Sunday at 8 PM IST. They were eagerly waiting for opening their winning account.

But, to everyone surprise, Harbhajan slapped Sreesanth after their defeat against Kings XI Punjab lead by Yuvaraj Singh. It was their 3rd continous loss and sure that everyone was disappointed.

No one is clear on why he did that? Sure that he won't do it without any provacation from Sreesanth, but regardless of what he said, he should not have slapped him, if he did that. Only Sreesanth knows what he said until he comes out public!

With the proof from the offical broadcaster Sony, BCCI has suspended Bhajji from Mumbai Indians next match against Deccan Chargers. Sachin is not yet ready for playing Cricket and with Harbhajan also not playable due to the suspension, it would be difficult for Mumbai Indians! Sure their morale would be low! Can they pull out of this problem? Well, wait and see!

ICC Seeks Explanation on Kanpur Pitch!

The ICC has received a copy of the match referee's poor report on the Kanpur pitch and is now waiting for a response from the Indian board on the same. But the BCCI played down the issue of what Mickey Arthur, the South African coach, called a "poor cricket wicket".

"It's a normal process where the match referee submits a pitch report to the ICC at the end of the match, a copy of which is also given to the board," said Ratnakar Shetty, the board's chief administrative officer.

South Africa beat India by an innings and 90 runs in Ahmedabad on a bouncy track but lost the Kanpur Test by eight wickets after their batting line-up crumbled on an under-prepared surface. Both matches ended in three days.

"This is not the first time that a match ended in three days," Shetty said. "Definitely there were suggestions for some corrective measures but I don't think it was a notice to the BCCI."

Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, said a letter had been sent to the BCCI seeking an explanation on the pitch.