An ugly on-field altercation between Kieron Pollard and Mitchell Starc marred the IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore at Wankhede stadium on Tuesday.
The angry confrontation took place in the 17th over of the of the Mumbai innings between the MI batsman and RCB pacer. As Starc was running in to bowl the 5th ball of the 17th over, Pollard, who was distracted for some reason, backed away from the crease. The Aussie pacer, however, still fired the ball at Pollard, getting the Trinidadian hot under the collar. Pollard flung the bat at the bowler, but, luckily, it slipped out of his hand and dropped near him.
Pollard immediately complained to the umpire before RCB skipper Virat Kohli stepped in to diffuse the situation. Chris Gayle, who plays for RCB, also came on to calm his West Indian teammate. Both the on-field umpires — S Ravi and K Srinath — had a word with the RCB captain. The situation was exacerbated by the 4th delivery in the over — a bouncer — which had seen the Australian pacer giving Pollard an earful. The West Indian all-rounder, though, had shooed him away. Pollard responded to the incident with a couple and a boundary of the last two deliveries of the over. Later, in the final over, there was a misunderstanding between Pollard and Rohit Sharma that saw the West Indian stranded at the same end as his skipper and it was Starc who clipped off the bails. Pollard kicked the ground in disgust before leaving. Pollard shared a 97-run partnership with Rohit, which helped his team post an imposing target of 187/5. Match referee Andy Pycroft is expected to take up the matter after the game and it is more than likely that both Pollard and Starc will be handed some punishment.
