June 19, (Mid-day): India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on Friday fined 75 per cent of his match fees for allegedly shoving young Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman during the first ODI of the three-match cricket series, here.
Dhoni was charged with Level 2 offence under ICC Code of Conduct yesterday for elbowing the debutant pacer while chasing an imposing 308-run target set by Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium.
The incident happened during India's chase when Mustafizur came in Dhoni's way while completing his follow through as India captain was running for a single.
Replays showed Dhoni shoved him while trying to reach the crease. Match referee Andy Pycroft summoned Team India manager Biswarup Dey last night to intimate him about the hearing.
According to reliable sources, a collective decision was taken by the team management that the skipper would not plead guilty in this case as he never tried to hurt the bowler intentionally.
Accordingly the administrative manager filled the form where India decided to contest the charge.
In the morning at the team hotel today, on field umpires Rod Tucker and Enamul Haque Moni were called by Pycroft after which the trio of Dhoni, Dey and Team India Director Ravi Shastri were summoned.
It was learnt that the team's defence was that Dhoni never raised his elbow and the officials said that he just wanted to complete the run.
Their bone of contention was according to replay there was no gap between shoulder and armpit which justifies that he did not try to elbow the bowler.
However, it was learnt that any sort of body contact can't be termed as Level 1 offence and match referee Pycroft had to press Level 2 charges which is fine between 50 to 100 hundred per cent match fees or two match ban.
Once the Indian trio completed their hearing, Mustafizur was called along with team manager Khaled Mahmud Sujon.
Interestingly, Mustafizur had told Bengali daily Prathom Aalo that "I made a mistake coming in the way". Mustafizur had earlier repeated the offence when Rohit Sharma was batting and hence was docked 50 per cent of his match fees.
Captains cool about Dhoni-Mustafizur collision Mirpur (Bangladesh): What happens on the field, stays on the field - a view the captains of Bangladesh and India said they share.
Both Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and Mahendra Singh Dhoni said they do not wish to make a big deal out of the collision between Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman and the India skipper in the middle of the pitch. The captains responded cautiously at the post-match briefing on Thursday regarding the issue, reports bdnews24.com.
The hosts lead 1-0 in the three-match One-Day International (ODI) series after crushing the visitors by 79 runs in the first game at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here on Thursday.
The incident occurred in the 25th over when Dhoni was facing debutant Mustafizur. The bowler had to go off the field to receive treatment after colliding with the India skipper when the latter was running for a single. India opener Rohit Sharma was also on a collision course with the pacer earlier before he managed to run around him.
The 19-year-old left-arm bowler took 5/50 on his debut to help crush the tourists after Bangladesh batsmen posted an impressive 307.
"The bowler (Mustafizur) thought I would move away while I thought he would. But as none of us did, we collided. This can happen in any match. It’s nothing big. I spoke to him later," said the India captain with a smile.
Mashrafe also said he would not drag the issue through the mud.
"Things like this can happen on the field during a match. We all shake hands at the end of the day and such situations can be discussed with the on-field umpires. It's nothing serious," he said.
