Mumbai Indian skipper Rohit Sharma has been fined Rs 24 Lakh for having a slow over-rate during their defeat against Punjab on Wednesday, the IPL announced on Thursday morning.

Apart from Rohit Sharma, rest of the team players were also fined 6 lakh rupees or 25% of their match fees, whichever is lower because of the team’s inability to maintain the required over-rate during the game at the MCA Stadium.

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The team were handed the maximum amount of fine possible under the IPL code of conduct as it was the second time this kind of offence had been repeated by the Mumbai team, the Indian Premier League said after the match. This was Mumbai’s fifth defeat this season which leaves them pointless at the bottom of the table.

A brilliant batting performance by Shikhar Dhawan (70 off 50) and Mayank Agarwal (52 off 32) which was followed by a scintillating bowling spell by Odean Smith (4/30) helped Punjab Kings beat Mumbai Indians by 12 runs in their fifth match of the IPL 2022.

Punjab’s lower batting order also delivered for them as Jitesh Sharma (30 off 15)and Shahrukh Khan (15* off 6) helped them finish the innings on a high.

The second innings started with skipper Rohit Sharma getting off to an explosive start with some boundaries. However, he was sent back to the pavilion by Kagiso Rabada at 28 runs. Vaibhav Arora continued to disrupt Mumbai’s momentum by dismissing Ishan Kishan at just 3 runs.

Mumbai were in trouble after being 2 wickets down at just 32 runs after which the two new batsmen – Dewald Brevis and Tilak Varma helped Mumbai to get their momentum back. The breakthrough for Brevis came in the 9th over when he smashed a boundary and four consecutive sixes against former Mumbai Indians bowler Rahul Chahar. This brilliant spell of batting took Mumbai to 105/2 at the end of the 10th over.

However, Dewald Brevis was not allowed to complete his maiden IPL half-century as Odeon Smith took his wicket at 49 runs. Tilak was also sent back to the pavilion in the same over after getting run-out due to some mix up at the non striker’s end.

With Mumbai needing 47 runs from 23 balls, the pressure was immense after Kieron Pollard (10) got run out. Yadav was the team’s only proper batsman left on the crease. Despite hitting consecutive sixes against Arora, the 18th over dented Mumbai’s hopes as Arshdeep bowled a brilliant over under pressure allowing only 5 runs. 

The 19th oversaw Yadav (43 off 30) getting dismissed by Rabada after Odeon Smith took his catch at long-on. 

With a difficult target of 22 runs in the last over, Jaydev Unadkat managed to hit a six and take a double against Smith on the first two deliveries. However, he fell off the third ball which led to Smith adding the wickets of Jasprit Bumrah and Tymal Mills in the last over as well. Smith ended the match with his career best figure of 4/30 and restricted Mumbai to 186/9 in 20 overs, hence, Punjab secured their victory by 12 runs.  

(with inputs from IANS)