IPL 2024: 'Something Fishy' - Fans Question Why Referee Blocks Camera During MI vs KKR Coin Toss

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Mumbai Indians (MI) suffered their eight loss of the campaign against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Friday (May 3), but what happened just ahead of IPL 2024 match 51 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai became the talking point on social media.

Some users on X, formerly Twitter, called the incident during the MI vs KKR coin toss as something to be looked at as they felt the match referee purposely covered the camera when the coin came down.

Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya was adjudged the toss winner after KKR captain Shreyas Iyer called it wrong. MI opted to field first after winning the said coin toss and had KKR reeling at 57 for 5.

But KKR fought back through Venkatesh Iyer (70 off 52 balls) and Manish Pandey (42 off 31 balls) stand of 83 which took them to a challenging total of 169 on a two-paced wicket at Wankhede.

In response, MI could only manage 145 despite Suryakumar Yadav's 56 off 35 balls. Although MI lost the match, some fans recalled an incident from earlier in the season with respect to the toss.

"WTH Referee picked up the coin before the cameraman could show the coin. Why does this happen during Mumbai Indians games only?" posted one user on X with a video which may soon be taken down.

The same user further wrote: "I am not calling out anything here about anything. I am just talking about this thing that I observed today that the cameraman couldn't show the coin as he shows in every game."

Another user called it a shame and tagged the league organizers BCCI, "Whenever the toss happens at Wankhede Stadium with Mumbai Indians, we never see a clear toss in the @IPL @BCCI it's really shame."

There were also suggestions that KKR captain Shreyas was having a conversation about the toss to his coaching staff right after the toss as some disgruntled users complained that the referee flipped the coin when he lifted it from the ground.

Meanwhile, some pointed out that despite all that they are still in ninth. So, they asked the ones reacting to the toss issue to move on as it did not give MI any advantage. If it was a one-match controversy, fans would agree, but this happened earlier as well.

A few weeks ago, a contentious toss took place when MI captain Hardik Pandya tossed the coin over Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Faf Du Plessis' head, sparking speculation about tampering after it landed behind everyone.

Even that time social media had pointed out at match referee Javagal Srinath's alleged act of picking the coin up and switching sides to favour Mumbai. Du Plessis later shared the incident with Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins, adding fuel to the controversy.

In response, broadcasters began zooming in on the coin during tosses to dispel tampering theories. That action by the IPL production team had also sparked discussion on social media platforms.