Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni believed that the game of cricket should be played in the right ‘spirit’ and winning or losing in the game came later. It is no wonder that former India captain Dhoni won the ‘ICC Spirit Of Cricket Award’ in 2011 for his special gesture on the tour of England.
Plenty of hue and cry has been raised over Australia’s decision to run-out England wicketkeeper-batter Jonny Bairstow on the fifth day of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s on Sunday. Bairstow had strayed out of his crease assuming the ball to be ‘dead’ off the final of a Josh Hazlewood in the first session of the final day.
An alert Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey caught Bairstow short of the crease with an underhanded throw. The incident led to plenty of boos around the Lord’s ground as well as ill-blood among the England and Australia team. However, in a similar situation back in 2011, MS Dhoni had decided to recall the appeal for the run-out against England batter Ian Bell.
Bell had scored 159 in a Test in Nottingham back in 2011 but it was not without the reprieve provided by Dhoni. Off the final ball before tea break on Day 3 of the Test, Bell was run-out after assuming that former England batter Eoin Morgan’s shot had reached the boundary. Bell started to walk towards the non-striker’s end without checking if it was a boundary or not.
After a throw from Praveen Kumar from the boundary, Dhoni ran-out Bell for 137 as the teams headed into the tea-break. But after plenty of debate in the dressing room, Dhoni informed the umpire that he was withdrawing the appeal and Bell continued his innings in the match.
WATCH MS Dhoni run-out Ian Bell in a Test match in 2011…
— Sanju Here __ (@me_sanjureddy) July 2, 2023
This video has now gone viral after Australia’s decision to run out Bairstow. India went on to the lose the Test series 4-0 against England that year.
England coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes believed Australia broke ‘the spirit’ of the laws of cricket in the Jonny Bairstow dismissal at Lord’s on Sunday. McCullum and Stokes agreed Bairstow was out, technically, but Stokes would have backtracked on appealing for out.
“Do I want to win in that manner?” Stokes posed. “The answer for me is no.”
Australia had to endure the crowd’s bitterness for the rest of the match, and McCullum felt the visitors brought it upon themselves.
“It was more about the spirit of the game,” McCullum said. "When you become older and more mature you realize the game and the spirit of it is something you need to protect. You have to make decisions in the moment and they can have effects on games and people’s characters.
“By the letter of the law he is out. Jonny was not trying to take a run and the umpires had called ‘Over.’ It is one of those difficult ones to swallow. You look at the small margins, it is incredibly disappointing.”
(with PTI inputs)
