Dhoni fined 75% of his match fee for elbowing Mustafizur but he wasn't at fault

Bangladesh romped to a thumping 79-run win over India in the first ODI at Dhaka on Thursday. However, that hasn’t been the biggest talking point for some. That ‘honour’ has been accorded to the MS Dhoni-Mustafizur Rahman incident that took place in the 25th over of India’s run chase. Off the second ball of the 25th over, Dhoni drove a Rahman delivery to mid-off and set off for a quick single but mid-way through the run, he barged into the bowler who seemed to feel the force and had to leave the field injured. According to reports, the India skipper has been fined 75 percent of his match fees and Rahman will also have to part with 50 percent of his match fees. [caption id=“attachment_2303196” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  MS Dhoni’s collision with Mustafizur Rahman during the first ODI. Screengrab[/caption] While Dhoni has been criticised for deliberately shoving Rahman, it must be noted that it was clearly accidental and the incident has judged far too hardly by some. A Times of India report says, “Dhoni may argue that Mustafizur, deliberately or otherwise, tried to block his way, but slow-motion clearly showed Dhoni not only made no effort to change his course but also shoved him away with a shoulder charge. Given Dhoni’s stature in international cricket, it was a very unsporting act, something the Indian captain has never been accused of in his illustrious career.” Well, if you see the replays, Dhoni had hit the ball with soft hands and with the mid off fielder inside the circle, he had to take off quickly. So he takes off at a good pace, Rahman is in the middle of the pitch, he sees Dhoni charging down the track but still continues his walk to the left despite knowing Dhoni is in a hurry to complete the run. The thing to be noted here was the bowler wasn’t charging to collect the ball. Dhoni was clearly watching the ball but Rahman still walks in line of his run. Dhoni then barges into Rahman and nearly knocks him off the feet. As soon as the collision takes place, Dhoni lifts his left hand towards the bowler which gives an indication that he is apologising.

After completing the run, Dhoni is clearly unhappy with the bowler coming in his way and has a word with the umpire but then he quickly raises his arm to check whether Rahman was okay. After the match Dhoni described the incident. “Well, I thought he will move, he thought I will move and both of us ended up colliding because I had to take the closest path possible getting to the other end,” Dhoni told EspnCricinfo. “If I am going around the bowler, more often than not they’ll get the batsman out. So either I should have moved to the right or he should have moved to the left but both of us thought maybe the other guy will, but we ended up with a, what you can say, a typical kind of a street clash. Thankfully he didn’t get injured, and I didn’t get injured,” he added. Rahman came back to rattle India with three more wickets, scalping a five-for on ODI debut and helped Bangladesh take a 1-0 lead in the series. It may be also noted that it was the same bowler who blocked Rohit in the fifth over. Rohit pushed it to mid off for quick single, Rahman saw him coming and tried to block the way even after watching Rohit charge towards him. Rohit, somehow, managed to change his course at the last moment and just about flicked Rahman’s shoulder as he passed him. As soon as Rohit completed the run, he straightaway turned back and pointed a finger towards Rahman. He seemed pretty angry with the bowler getting into the way and the TV commentators, too, termed it as a deliberate act by the Bangladesh left-arm pacer to block Rohit’s way. The commentator said, “You don’t want to do that. It’s the last thing you want to do on a cricket ground. It’s gonna attract a lot of negative attention towards you. Your early career, you want to ensure that all the legal formalities are maintained. You don’t want to step out of line.” Rohit, then, had a word with the umpire, Rahman then patted Rohit on the back apologetically and the incident ended with a smile on everyone’s face. On both the occasions, Rahman saw the batsman running towards him but still tried to get in the line. Harsha Bhogle on air said “Rahman needs to be careful of the movement towards the batsman when he is running. Nothing to suggest it’s intentional but you never know if it’s the habit he’s picked up.” However, it went too far as both Dhoni was fined 75% while Rahman was fined 50% of his match fee for the incident. There is a lot of negativity surrounding the Dhoni-Rahman incident. There is no reason to build any animosity or criticism regarding the collision. There was no need to fine the players. It was just an accident. Even Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza didn’t want to drag the issue. “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,” Mortaza said. Bangladesh played well, they won. Let’s get on with the game rather than sit and try to analyse the not-so-important aspects.