Rajasthan Royals’ long-serving team manager, Romi Bhinder, may be in hot water after television cameras showed him using a mobile phone in the dug-out during Friday night’s win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Guwahati. Under IPL match-day rules, mobiles are strictly barred from the players’ and match officials’ area.
A senior BCCI official confirmed the breach shortly after footage began circulating on social media. “Yes, Bhinder has indeed breached the protocol of the players’ and match officials’ area (PMOA) as cell phones are banned in the dugout during match,” the official said. Those regulations are spelt out in the PMOA guidelines on the league’s website: “The team manager may use a phone in the dressing room but NOT in the dugout.”
At the time of writing Bhinder had not been formally charged, yet the governing body is expected to look into the matter. “It could be inadvertent but there has to be some action since it amounts to breach,” the same official added. “Whether it will be warning or match ban will depend on match referee and ACU report. Based on that IPL governing council can take a call.”
Bhinder, part of the Royals set-up since the inaugural IPL in 2008, was sitting next to 15-year-old batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi when the camera angle caught him scrolling. Bhinder acts as Sooryavanshi’s “local guardian” during the tournament, a role the franchise felt was necessary owing to the schoolboy’s age.
The timing has proved awkward for a Royals side otherwise flying. Friday’s six-wicket victory was their fourth in four starts, while Sooryavanshi’s 78 from just 26 balls put him on top of the Orange Cap standings. Captain Sanju Samson, reflecting on the youngster’s blitz, remarked afterwards, “He keeps things ridiculously simple, maybe that’s the secret.”
From an anti-corruption standpoint the incident is likely to be processed quickly. Former India opener Aakash Chopra, speaking on his YouTube channel, called the offence “minor but avoidable”, adding that the IPL could use the moment “to remind everyone of the basics rather than make an example”.
For fans, the episode raises familiar questions about consistency in enforcing match-day rules. Yet it also underlines how easily a lapse, whether careless or not, can divert attention from the cricket itself. The Royals stay on the road this week, and Bhinder may learn his fate before they next take the field.
