New Delhi, April 13 (IANS) Tim David and Hardik Pandya have been punished for separate violations of the IPL Code of Conduct after Match 20 between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.

David, playing for RCB, was fined 25 percent of his match fee and received one demerit point for a Level 1 offence. This was for breaching Article 2.4, which deals with ignoring an umpire’s instruction during a match. The first incident occurred in the 18th over of RCB’s innings when the umpires decided to change the ball.

David insisted on inspecting it and refused to return it despite several requests. A similar situation happened again in the final over, where he again did not hand the ball back to the officials, showing repeated non-compliance.

The batter admitted to the offence and accepted the penalty given by the match referee.

Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya was fined Rs12 lakh for having a slow over-rate during the same match. Since it was MI’s first offence of the season under Article 2.22 of the IPL Code of Conduct, the appropriate penalty was applied.

Brilliant bowling, blazing half-centuries by Phil Salt (78) and Rajat Patidar (53), followed by some fine restrictive bowling, helped Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) hand five-time champions Mumbai Indians an 18-run defeat in Match 20 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.

Salt and Patidar put up a sensational display of power-hitting as they rained sixes on their way to half-centuries, and with Virat Kohli contributing a sedate 50, RCB posted a challenging 240/4 in their 20 overs.

Mumbai Indians’ ambitious chase of a record-high target at Wankhede fizzled out after former skipper Rohit Sharma suffered a hamstring injury and had to retire hurt for 19 off 13 balls.

Sherfane Rutherford hammered an unbeaten 71 off 31 balls, smashing nine sixes towards the fag end of the match after Hardik Pandya (40) and Ryan Rickelton (37) raised the hopes a bit at the start. Mumbai Indians eventually finished with 222/5 in 20 overs, falling short by 18 runs to slump to their third defeat in a row.

RCB won their third game in four matches, moving up to six points and the third spot in the points table, behind Rajasthan Royals (8) and Punjab Kings (7).

–IANS

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