Ajinkya Rahane has backed Rohit Sharma in the latest umpiring row, in which the Mumbai Indians batsman was found at the centre of controversy. Rahane found nothing wrong in Rohit’s act, as he said that it is a part and parcel of the game,

“As a batsman, when you move, that area goes to the bowler. Rohit’s behaviour at that point was natural. As a captain, as a player, when the game is so close, it comes automatically; nobody thinks these things through and then do them. I do not think it was wrong on his part. It happens on the field and remains on the field. It is part and parcel of the game. In this format, in close games, this will happen in the future as well. You should respect the umpire’s decision as well as what Rohit did. It was natural,” he said.

The incident happened in the last over of the game when Mumbai Indians needed 17 runs to win off the last six balls. All hopes were on Hardik Pandya and skipper Rohit Sharma to see their team getting past the winning total.

Pandya was dismissed on the first delivery of the last over but soon Rohit lit up the hopes of a win by hitting a six on the very next one. The match was in a tense situation. Rohit was looking to hit each and every delivery and in a quest to smash the third ball he followed the delivery outside the off stump. Though he could not make a contact with the ball.

Rohit was assuming that umpire might call it as a wide but umpire deemed it as a fair delivery. This irked Rohit Sharma who went up to the umpire to confront him.

The match officials docked 50% of his match fees for breaking code of conduct. It was the second time when Rohit found himself in such an issue.

Mumbai Indian lost the game and the result could have been different if was the ball was adjudged wide by the umpire.

Rahane further said that he was happy with the way he is batting at the moment as he said,

“Really happy at the moment the way I am batting. It is important to spend time in the middle but right now the way I am middling the ball, timing the ball I am really happy at the moment. As long as we are winning the match that is what is important to me and for our team.”

With three back to back wins now, Rising Pune Supergiant have been able to make a turnaround and the team which looked one of the weakest sides, surprisingly looks one of the strongest team now.