Spirit of the Game - Dhoni pays the price

It will be much easier if you take a look at the video before we go ahead with the article.

With respect to the context of the game, England had stretched the lead to 183 and Bell the chief architect of the England’s current position batting rock solid at 137. 

Just the BALL before Tea, Morgan plays one on the onside and ball runs toward the square leg boundary. Praveen Kumar from fine leg puts his best effort to prevent the four. In the end he feels he did not save it. However he does not confirm it.

At the same time the batsman completes 2 runs and get ready for the third. Right at this moment they see the fielder and assume from his body language that the ball has reached the boundary. So the batsmen decide against completing the formality. Morgan slowly jogs towards the other end only to make his journey to the Pavilion quicker. He runs past Bell.

Umpire Asad Rauf equally convinced from the fielder’s reaction that the ball isn’t saved, though he did not declare boundary yet.

On the other side, Praveen Kumar picks the ball and throws the same to the wicket keeper. The Keeper then passes it to the fielder close to the stump who does the formality of clipping the bail.

Freeze the action. You will see Bell outside the crease and the bail successfully taken. Indians rightfully appeal and the on field umpires refer the third eye. Surprisingly for everyone the boundary is saved and the third umpire rules Bell out.

Players walk to tea.

It was during the tea interview David Lloyd confirmed that the umpires walked into the Indian dressing room for a little chat. When the Indian Team came out to field post tea, the crowd booed and after they saw Bell coming back the crowd cheered.

I’m proud of the Captain and Indian Team for withdrawing the appeal. In my opinion, the batsmen would have sure completed the run had the fielder shown the sense of urgency to pick and throw the ball. We also have to recognize that it is actually the Tea Break that did the trick. Had it not for Tea Break, I’m more or less convinced that the next batsmen would have already walked out to bat. It was the break that created the opportunity to analyze the situation and India did the right thing (the least in my opinion) and withdrew the appeal. Credit goes to the umpires for doing the devil’s advocate.

It is not the first instance Dhoni played to the spirit of the game. Just recently, in the third test played against West Indies, Darren Sammy requested Dhoni to allow him to bring Ravi Rampaul for bowling the second new ball. Mind you the player was out most part of the game due to illness, but captain cool obliged. Here again, umpire Asad Rauf intervened and discouraged Sammy’s request pointing the laws of the game.

I can't stop myself from asking these questions.

If the umpire could walk to Indian dressing room to withdraw an appeal on the spirit of the game, then why not the same umpire withheld the law in the spirit of the game and allowed Ravi Rampaul to bowl?

If England expects India to withdraw an appeal in the spirit of the game, how does it account to Broad checking Laxman’s bat for the presence Vaseline in the spirit of the game after what he thought was a faint nick and the technology did not pick it?

Sometimes it makes me wonder why the spirit of the game is so one sided. However it does make me feel proud of my captain.

Considering the circumstances, England leading by 180 runs, Morgan still discovering his form, Trott unfit, media & public frying the team for performance, new ball due in 15 overs, an opportunity knocks the door for the comeback with the prized wicket of Bell on offer, you really have to be captain courage than captain cool to give up.

Salute you Dhoni for making us believe Cricket is still a Gentleman’s game.

Dinesh

Cricket Lover