Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Rohit Sharma did the same before the start of this IPL season as well, but probably forgot about it for a few seconds against the Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) on Monday.
Before the start of every IPL season, each captain has to sign a spirit of cricket bat that would make him pledge to abide by the Marylebone Cricket Club’s (MCC) Spirit of Cricket whenever he and his players step on to the field.
Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Rohit Sharma did the same before the start of this IPL season as well, but probably forgot about it for a few seconds against the Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) on Monday.
With the game reaching a nerve-wracking climax of 11 runs off four balls and Rohit on strike in the quest to achieve that, the Mumbaikar’s tempers flared in a manner that was unwarranted.
Left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat bowled a ball wide outside off stump from around the wicket. Rohit moved a couple of steps away from the off stump, and left it alone, assuming umpire S Ravi would signal wide.
But Ravi’s arms stayed glued to his body, which made Rohit furious. So much so that he walked up to Ravi, held up play for a few seconds and had an animated discussion with him. Despite Ravi repeatedly gesturing to the MI skipper to go back to his crease and bat, Rohit remained adamant.
There are a couple of aspects to this incident: one technical and one behavioral.
The first one is fairly clear, for the MCC laws of cricket pertaining to wide balls states that a delivery is not a wide if: “(a) if the striker, by moving, either (i) causes the ball to pass wide of him … or (ii) brings the ball sufficiently within his reach to be able to hit it by means of a normal cricket stroke.”
Thus, despite the ball being outside the white line that is used as an indicator for an umpire to give a wide, Rohit’s movement brought him to a position from where he could’ve played a normal shot.
The second aspect is something that Rohit might want to look back upon. Sure, things happen in the heat of the moment when you’re out in the middle and the blood is boiling. However, to walk up to an umpire and hold up play over a judgement call could’ve been well avoided by the MI captain.
“He actually wanted to check what the rule was, and where he needed to stand,” MI off-spinner Harbhajan Singh said after the game on Monday. “He didn’t shout at him (Ravi), asking kyu nahi diya wide (why didn’t he give a wide)? He was asking where should I stand for me to get a wide, if a ball is so wide outside the off stump. He (Ravi) told him the more you move, the more margin the bowler will get,” he added.
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 "Rohit Sharma argues with umpire")
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