A no-ball decision which was denied by square-leg umpire Bruce Oxenford resulted in some angry reaction from Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper, MS Dhoni as he started walking into the ground in order to clarify the matter from the two standing umpires during a humdinger of a game against Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Thursday (April 12).
For his act, Dhoni has received a fine of 50% of his match fee. Regarding the issue, IPL’s media release read: “MS Dhoni, the Chennai Super Kings captain, was fined 50 percent of his match fees for breaching the Indian Premier League’s Code of Conduct during his team’s match against Rajasthan Royals at Jaipur. Dhoni admitted to the Level 2 offense 2.20 of the IPL’s Code of Conduct and accepted the sanction”.
WATCH – MS Dhoni lost his cool
Article 2.20 of the IPL’s Code of Conduct refers to actions that are antithetical to the spirit of the game. The 50% fine imposed on Dhoni is the minimum sanction for a Level 2 offense for the first time. The statement from IPL abstained from detailing the specifics for which the CSK skipper got angry during the incident that occurred following what was the fourth ball of the final over bowled by Ben Stokes with CSK requiring 8 from 3 to go over the line. Stokes’s attempted slower ball turned into a full toss and was promptly called a no-ball by straight umpire Ulhas Gandhe.
With CSK batsmen Mitchell Santner and Ravindra Jadeja running two, the equation should have reduced to 5 off 3 with a free-hit to follow, but Oxenford, the umpire at square leg, overruled the original decision, drawing a furious response from the CSK dugout.
Dhoni walked into the playing area to talk to the umpires and was pictured gesticulating about the original no-ball call. The umpires, without referring to the third-umpire, decreed that the full-toss would not have been waist-high and left CSK needing six off two.
However, Mitchell Santner hit a last-ball six to seal the game and CSK won the game by 4 wickets.
WATCH – Ambati Rayudu Suspended By BCCI For Breaching Code Of Conduct
Incidentally, umpire Gandhe was involved in a similar incident of disagreement during the 2018 Syed Mushtaq Ali fixture between Karnataka and Hyderabad. In that incident, the Hyderabad skipper, Ambati Rayudu received a two-match suspension after delaying the start of the chase by nine minutes after Karnataka was awarded two additional runs for a boundary not given during their innings.
