Mirpur/Bangladesh:Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's collision with Bangladesh's debutant bowler Mustafizur Rahman during the first ODI in Mirpur on Thursday has drawn criticism for both and some Twitter jokes.
On the second ball of the 25th over, Rahman appeared to get in Dhoni's path as the batsman was taking a single. Dhoni bumped shoulders with Rahman, who was shoved out of the way and left the field for treatment. Rahman rejoined the action in the 37th over and immediately made an impact, claiming the wickets of Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Ravindra Jedja to complete his five-wicket haul, for which he received the man of the match award.
The incident was the one blemish on what was a fine debut by Rahman. The left-arm pacer, on his part, appeared to have gotten in the way of the Indian batsmen on more than one occasion, also getting in the way of Rohit Sharma earlier in the innings. A softer collision ensued and Rohit Sharma immediately raised a finger to indicate that the bowler was in the wrong, given that Rahman appeared to have glanced towards the batsmen after his follow-through.
When Dhoni was dismissed in the following over, the celebrations by the Bangladesh players, especially by wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim, who let out a scream in the direction of a watching Dhoni, showed they had not taken well to the incident. Bangladesh went on to complete an impressive and well-earned 79-run win.
A report pointed out that Dhoni didn't appear to make any effort to change his course when he saw that Rahman was in his way. The report called Dhoni's action unsporting and would lose him a lot of fans, especially those from Bangladesh.
A report said there was no residual tension from the incident and that both teams' captains did not wish to make an issue out of the incident. Dhoni was quoted as saying, "The bowler (Mustafizur) thought I would move away while I thought he would. But as none of us did, we collided." "I think this can happen in any match. It’s nothing big. I spoke to him later," said the Indian captain with a smile.
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza said, "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 added.
This article found that penalties imposed for the incident, if any, were a matter of interpretation of ICC's rules.
The report also stated that the incident is yet to be reported by match umpires Rod Tucker and Enamul Haque to ICC match referee Andy Pycroft.
Courtesy- Hindustan Times