Denying having lodged a complaint about the quality of the pitch they played on and lost to Rajasthan Royals at Jaipur, Mumbai Indians on Tuesday accused the Royals and Rajasthan Cricket Association for sensationalizing the issue of captain Sachin Tendulkar's post-match comments, terming it a violation of the spirit of cricket.
"Mumbai Indians has not lodged any complaint to IPL on the nature of the pitch. It is disconcerting to note that Rajasthan Royals and a senior official of the Rajasthan Cricket Association are trying to sensationalise this issue," read a statement from the Mumbai franchise owned by the Reliance Industries.
Mumbai Indians stated that "there have been unsolicited, distasteful comments and personal remarks made, which is not in keeping with the spirit of the game".
The franchise said that the post-match comment made by Tendulkar, in reference to a specific question on the pitch was as follows: "It was a tough pitch, different to what we played on in Mumbai. Don't want to take the credit away from Rajasthan, who bowled and fielded well.
- RCA criticises Sachin over Jaipur pitch comment
"It was two-paced, the ball kept low. We lost early wickets, were not able to rotate strike. A score of 130 would have been a challenging total. We were not able to accelerate in the middle overs."
Mumbai Indians' reactions emerged after Rajasthan Cricket Association's secretary Sanjay Dixit tweeted on Monday, accusing Mumbai as "sore losers" and "graceless" in defeat.
"Mumbai is known on the Ranji circuit as the most graceless side. Showing off their pedigree in IPL too," Dixit had tweeted.
"Venkat Sundram (pitch regulator) came three days after marking of the pitch, and rubbished Mumbai's claims. Sore losers. Did that in Ranji too," he wrote, while slamming Tendulkar for criticising the pitch on which Mumbai Indians were restricted to 94 for 8.
Shane Warne's home team overhauled the modest target with seven wickets to spare and later the Aussie spin legend too hit out at Tendulkar for his comments about the quality of the pitch after the match.
