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Shubham Dubey controversially lost his wicket to Shardul Thakur in the IPL 2026 clash between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday (May 24).
Shubham Dubey was trying to play aggressive shots and wanted to hit the ball towards the leg side boundary. But Shardul cleverly changed his pace and bowled the slower ball instead of the faster one to confuse the Rajasthan Royals batsman and force him to hit wrong shots.
Shardul Thakur dodges Shubham Dubey with a slow ball at Wankhede Stadium
Shardul Thakur moved his fingers on the seam while bowling, and this caused the ball to slow down and move slightly away from the left-handed batsman. Even before realizing that the ball was slower than expected, Shubham Dubey had decided to go for a big slog shot and was fully committed to the attack.
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Due to lack of timing, the ball could not reach the middle of the bat and hit the toe. The result was that the ball went in the air towards the midwicket area, where Naman Dheer made no mistake. Naman ran from deep midwicket and completed a brilliant catch under pressure.
Shubham Dubey’s wicket sparks controversy in MI vs RR IPL 2026 clash
However, after the wicket, there was drama on the field for some time. As soon as Shardul completed his bowling action, the towel hidden behind him accidentally fell on the ground. Rajasthan Royals head coach Kumar Sangakkara immediately reached the fourth umpire.
The RR team management wanted the match official to check whether Shubham Dubey was distracted by the falling towel while attempting a shot. The umpires carefully reviewed the incident and ultimately, they ruled that the towel did not affect the batsman or interfere with his shot.
ALSO READ: Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur indulge in friendly banter during MI vs RR clash
Because of this the wicket remained valid and Dubey had to return to the pavilion after scoring only 5 runs in 6 balls. Nevertheless, many did not agree with the umpiring decision, questioning the decision and saying that it should have been called a dead ball as the towel had slipped from Thakur’s hand.
Clearly a dead ball by Shardul Thakur with the towel dropped but the umpires decided to ignore it???
-Aditya Kumar Saroj (@AdiKumarSaroj) 24 May 2026
Rajasthan Royals recovered from the collapse to score 205 runs against Mumbai Indians and are a must-win in the clash
Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals were in deep trouble to win their IPL 2026 match against Mumbai Indians, but a late fightback helped them reach a massive total of 206 runs.
At one point RR were in serious danger after losing three important wickets inside the first 10 overs. Big names like Vaibhav Suryavanshi (4), Yashasvi Jaiswal (27) and captain Riyan Parag (14) were out cheaply, putting the team under pressure.
Dasun Shanaka (29) tried to rebuild the innings along with Dhruv Jurel (38) but was run out by an expensive mix-up from the Sri Lankan all-rounder in the 11th over, slowing down RR once again.
Just when it looked like RR would fall behind, late fireworks from Jofra Archer (32 off 15 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (19* off 11 balls) took the total to 205/8 in 20 overs. Now, RR must win this game to clinch the fourth playoff spot, but a defeat will knock them out of IPL 2026.
