IPL 2026: RCB head coach Andy Flower fined after fiery argument with fourth umpire

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) head coach Andy Flower has been fined 15% of his match fee for breaching the Indian Premier League 2026 (IPL 2026) Code of Conduct during Match 54 of the season against Mumbai Indians (MI). Flower was found breaching Level 1 of the Code of Conduct for Players and Team officials.

The RCB head coach breached article 2.3 of the IPL’s Code of Conduct, which relates to “use of an audible obscenity during a match.” The incident occurred on the second ball of the 18^th over, where Flower was seen arguing with the fourth umpire near the boundary.

Krunal Pandya had hit AM Ghazanfar in the air towards long on, where Naman Dhir completed the catch and threw the ball towards his teammate Tilak Varma before going over the boundary. However, Tilak didn’t complete the relay catch, thinking that Dhir had brushed the fence with his foot.

Also Check: IPL 2026: Full List of Code of Conduct Breaches

To ascertain if Dhir had actually touched the boundary, on-field umpires consulted with the third umpire, who found no part of Mumbai’s fielder touching the fence and confirmed that it was a dot ball. However, the entire RCB camp seemed unhappy with the decision and only expressed their displeasure from the dugout.

RCB climb to the top after beating MI

Frustrated by the entire turn of events, Andy Flower even walked up to the fourth umpire, expressing his annoyance about the decision that was made. He was spotted having an animated chat with the fourth umpire, during which he committed to offence. Flower admitted to the offence and accepted the sanction imposed by Match Referee, Amit Sharma.

Meanwhile, RCB beat MI by two wickets in the thrilling fixture and climbed to the top of the IPL 2026 points table. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was adjudged Player of the Match for taking four wickets (4/23, 4 overs) and also playing a crucial knock of 7* (2) in the last over, to help RCB chase down 167 on the last ball.