India may lose to England, but wins English hearts

The UK press is effusive in praise for Mahendra Singh’s Dhoni’s act recalling Ian Bell after the Englishman had been run out. Bell walked lazily towards the pavilion, believing that Eoin Morgan’s shot on the last ball before tea was due had crossed the boundary rope, when, indeed it hadn’t. The umpire at the business end had not signaled either a boundary or a dead ball, and Praveen Kumar, the fielder at the boundary line, tossed the ball to Dhoni, who tossed it to Abhinav Mukund, who took of the bails and, almost apologetically, appealed. By the laws of the game, Bell was out, and, post a dressing-room discussion, Dhoni recalled Bell. [caption id=“attachment_51715” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The UK press is effusive in praise for MS Dhoni’s act recalling Ian Bell after the Englishman had been run out. Tom Hevezi/AP”] [/caption] India ended the day with another loss looming large , but this morning’s paper have been marked by fulsome praise for Dhoni. The Guardian’s headline says it all: “India save England’s Ian Bell from falling victim to his own doziness.” The article goes on to say “But in a game that has at times become increasingly dishonourable it required an honourable act by India’s captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his team to enable Bell to complete an innings that appeared to have been curtailed by his own doziness.” “The hurrah’s for good sportsmanship were quick to follow India’s generous and illogical decision…” says The Telegraph . David Lloyd, writing in The Mail , says, “It was absolute class for India and Mahendra Singh Dhoni to change their minds.” Ian Botham writes in The Mirror , “Ian Bell is a very lucky boy. Having been legitimately run out by the Indians with his mind on a huge round of applause and a cup of tea he had no right to expect to be batting after the break. He was out.I can understand why MS Dhoni withdrew his appeal and decided to go along with the spirit of the game, but I would have had no problem if he had upheld it and sent a message about dopey cricket.” The Sun stops short of praise, but MSD and India still come out smelling of roses. “The umpires and Indian fielders were greeted with a chorus of boos when they appeared for the restart. Some shouted: “Shame on you, India.” But when Bell then trotted down the pavilion steps, the jeers became cheers and India became heroes. Bell was extremely careless and naive but Dhoni probably made the correct call. He will now be praised and stopped a major row.” The Independent gushes, though. “Dhoni and his team had been booed off the field but with one act of good sportsmanship he won over a capacity crowd of 17,000 and also ensured there would be no lingering bitterness,” the paper said. Elsewhere in The Independent, James Lawton writes, “Dhoni, we are told, carried the English pleading back to his team. The consensus was that Bell should be reinstated, which was a display of generosity repeated when he fell after adding 22 more runs. Generosity, perhaps, was involved but maybe also a degree of working statesmanship…” Bucketsful of praise for Dhoni and team. The urgent need, today, though is that Indian bowlers get early wickets – and almost two days of extraordinary batting to save this test.