MI Coach Kieron Pollard Fined for Abusing Umpire in IPL 2025

Along with being fined with 15% of his match fees, Pollard has also been handed one demerit point for a Level 1 breach of the IPL Code of Conduct under Article 2.3 during MI's match against PBKS.

The violation pertained to the use of "audible obscenity during a match", after Pollard was found guilty of directing abusive language at the fourth umpire in the 19th over of the second innings.

"Kieron Pollard, Batting Coach, Mumbai Indians, has been fined 15% of his applicable match fee and accumulated one demerit point for breaching Level 1 of the IPL's Code of Conduct for Players and Team officials. Pollard was found to have breached Article 2.3 of the IPL's Code of Conduct, which relates to 'use of an audible obscenity during a match.' The incident occurred in the 19th over of the second innings when Pollard used abusive language towards the fourth umpire," said the IPL statement on Friday

"Pollard admitted to the offence and accepted the sanction imposed by Match Referee, Pankaj Dharmani," the statement adds further.

Coming to the PBKS vs MI match, MI opted to bowl first. A 50-run stand between Priyansh Arya (22 in 17 balls, with four boundaries) and Prabhsimran Singh started off things well for PBKS. Prabhsimran had some struggles with his tempo, but managed to score 57 in 32 balls, with six fours and four sixes and put on a 57-run stand with Cooper Connolly (21). From 107/1, PBKS collapsed to 140/7.

Cameos from Azmatullah Omarzai (38 in 17 balls, with two fours and four sixes), Vishnu Vinod (15*), and Xavier Bartlett (18*) took PBKS to a competitive 200/8 in 20 overs. Shardul Thakur (4/39) and Deepak Chahar (2/36) were the pick of the bowlers for MI.

During the run-chase, Ryan Rickelton (48 in 23 balls, with four boundaries and four sixes) and Rohit Sharma (25 in 26 balls, with two sixes put on a 61-run stand. But PBKS lost wickets at regular intervals after that, and at 149/4 in the 17th over, the match looked balanced. Tilak (75* in 33 balls, with six fours and six sixes) and Will Jacks (25* in 10 balls, with two fours and two sixes) put on an explosive 56-run stand, chasing down the target with a ball left.

Omarzai (2/36 in four overs), Yuzi Chahal (1/32 in four overs) and Arshdeep Singh (0/29 in four overs) bowled well for PBKS, but other than that, their foreign quicks, Marco Jansen (1/55) and Xavier Bartlett (0/53), continued to leak runs.MI is at the eighth spot in the points table, with four wins and eight losses, giving them eight points. PBKS stays in the top four with six wins, five losses and a no result, giving them 13 points. If Chennai Super Kings (CSK) beat Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Friday, they would be out of the top four.

- ANI