Dhoni-Rahman collision: India would have lodged appeal if Rahman had escaped fine

It seems that the blame for the MS Dhoni-Mustafizur Rahman collision was initially put only on the Indian captain — and if it would have stayed that way, then the Indian team management were ready to lodge an appeal with the International Cricket Council (ICC). A Hindustan Times report says that on-field umpires Rod Tucker and Enamul Haque had submitter a report only against Dhoni for the incident in the 25th over of India’s innings during their first ODI in the ongoing series against Bangladesh. [caption id=“attachment_2304322” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Dhoni also pointed out that his elbow was not raised during the point of contact. AFP[/caption] However, both players were shown the footage at a hearing on Friday morning in which Rahman admitted that he should have tried to get out of Dhoni’s way. Dhoni also pointed out that his elbow was not raised during the point of contact. It was after this that ICC match referee Andy Pycroft decided to fine both players (75% match fee for Dhoni and 50% for Rahman) — satiating the Indian team management. “Had Rahman not been punished we would have lodged an appeal. But now it’s fine,” a team source is quoted as saying in the report. It also turns out that Dhoni was given three options by the ICC - accept the charges and face appropriate punishment, accept charges and request a smaller penalty or contest the charges. The report says that Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Ravi Shastri and team manager Biswarup Dey met and decided to contest the charges. Eventually though, and according to a statement from the ICC, Pycroft was convinced that Dhoni did not do enough to avoid the collision — which is why it was deemed a Level 2 breach under ICC’s rule 2.2.4 (inappropriate and deliberate physical contact between players). Click here to read the full Hindustan Times report.