Warne critical of Mumbai's pitch complaint

Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne has criticised Mumbai Indians' decision to lodge an official complaint about the pitch in Jaipur after their seven-wicket loss on April 29. On a slow surface Mumbai were restricted to 94 for 8 in 20 overs and slumped to their second defeat of the season.

"I thought it was really disappointing," Warne said of the decision. "I have seen the Kolkata wicket and I have seen a few wickets during the competition. There have been some poor wickets but nobody complains, everyone just gets on with the conditions. I am not having a go at Sachin or anyone, but [for] Mumbai in general, to come here and get outplayed like they did, I think they are using that as an excuse. We suddenly have a pitch inspector here and I thought that was totally out of order and unnecessary."

IPL pitch inspector Venkat Sundaram was present at the Sawai Mansingh stadium on Sunday ahead of Rajasthan's match against Pune Warriors because of Mumbai's complaint, which Warne said put "pressure" on the hosts. "I am sticking for Topash [the curator] and everyone at the Rajasthan Cricket Association because what they are doing is a very good job. When you get outplayed, you should just say you got outplayed."

After the loss to Rajasthan, Mumbai captain Sachin Tendulkar said the conditions were "different" to those in Mumbai. "[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. 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."

While Warne said that wicket was "slow", he did not agree it was as bad as Mumbai's performance indicated. "I think the wicket was a little bit slow but it wasn't a 90-wicket, it was 130 wicket. Twenty20 is a about a contest between bat and ball. No one wants to see 50-yard boundaries and the batsmen dominating and the bowler having no chance. I think the crowd and everyone wants to see a fair contest between bat and ball. And what you get here are good batsmen who will get runs and good bowlers who will get wickets.

"There's no disgrace in losing, you should not look for excuses when you get outplayed; you should just give credit to the opposition. I was very disappointed."