The Indian team management was braced to lodge an appeal with the International Cricket Council (ICC) if only MS Dhoni was penalised at the hearing with ICC match referee, said a report of Hindustan Times.
According to the report “Inside story: The 3 options given to Dhoni and India’s stand on Mustafizur penalty at collision hearing,” once match referee Andy Pycroft announced that Dhoni and Mustafizur had been fined 75% and 50% of their match fees respectively, the Indian management decided not to pursue the matter further.
“Had Rahman not been punished we would have lodged an appeal. But now it’s fine,” said the report quoting an unknown source.
The report also claimed that Dhoni was given three options by the ICC – accept the charges and face punishment deemed appropriate, accept the charges and request a smaller penalty or contest the charges.
After several rounds of meetings, the last one being held between Dhoni, Virat Kohli, team director Ravi Shastri and manager Biswarup Dey in the next morning, they decided to contest the charges, the report added. “They were also prepared to lodge an appeal if Pycroft had penalised only Dhoni.”
“Our main defence was Dhoni never tried to intentionally hurt Mustafizur,” the news outlet was apparently told by a team insider.
“The same had been relayed to the Indian management at around 1am when the team returned to their hotel after losing to Bangladesh in the first ODI.”
At the hearing, Dhoni was shown video footage of the incident that happened in the 25th over when the India captain clattered into Mustafizur while running a single. The pacer had to leave the field after that.
Quoting source, the Indian news outlet reported: “The source said that Dhoni chronologically described what happened while the footage was being shown and also pointed out that his elbow was never raised during the moment of contact.”
“With Mustafizur on the wrong side and Suresh Raina to his right, Dhoni had very little gap to go through for his single. He couldn’t have gone to his left and run down the middle of the pitch. And surely he couldn’t have skirted both of them since that could have led to a run-out. No batsman would want that,” said the source.
Mustafizur and Bangladesh manager Khaled Mahmud Sujon were also summoned after Dhoni’s hearing. The bowler had first pleaded not guilty to the charges but once the footage was shown, he admitted that getting in Dhoni’s way was not appropriate and that he should have done more to avoid contact.
According to a statement by the ICC, Pycroft was not convinced that Dhoni couldn’t have avoided the collision and hence it was deemed a Level 2 breach, which falls under ICC rule 2.2.4 (inappropriate and deliberate physical contact between players).
“However, my assessment was that Dhoni deliberately pushed and shouldered Mustafizur, which was inappropriate. Even if there was a narrow gap between the runner (Suresh Raina) and the bowler, an experienced Dhoni should have tried to avoid the collision as cricket is a non-contact sport and the players are expected to avoid physical contact at all times,” it said.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
Just turn the scenario for an assessment. What if it was a Bangladeshi batsman in place of Dhoni & an Indian bowler in place of Mustafiz ? The Indians wud have been screaming foul at the top of their voice including Indian media & the Bangladeshi batsman wud have been banned for life, for sure !!
So much for the Gentlemen’s game !!