A complete disregard for basics on part of his players and the skipper's own couldn't-care-less attitude led to MS Dhoni copping a one-match ban that will see him cooling his heels in the dressing room during the Adelaide Test.
The backgrounder to Dhoni's ban makes it clear that Ranjan Madugalle, who is ICC's chief match referee, had no choice but to impose the sanctions on Dhoni and his players after the captain steadfastly refused to pay heed to verbal cautions on his side's slow over-rate and also ignored summary sheets provided to him as well as the management by the match officials during the course of the Australian innings.
This explains why Dhoni, or the Indian team management did not contest the charge laid down by the umpires or the penalties imposed by the match referee. India were ruled to be two overs short of its target at the end of the match after time allowances had been taken into consideration.
According to TOI's sources, apart from Dhoni, the men chiefly responsible for the over-rate were Ishant Sharma and Gautam Gambhir.
As per the summary sheet that is handed to the managements of both teams at the end of each session, Ishant had taken six minutes each to bowl two overs on the opening day of the third Test when David Warner and Ed Cowan were going great guns in the final session. Gambhir was the other culprit as he consumed six minutes in all to twice put on shin guards during the course of the Australian innings.
Penalties would have been harsher had India been compelled to bowl a second time in the match as Dhoni not only erred big-time by picking four pacers but also failed to handle them smartly. The inclusion of R Vinay Kumar in place of off-spinner R Ashwin hardly made a difference as the debutant pacer hardly looked the part and was carted all over the park by Australian batsmen.
So, if Dhoni knew he would face ICC sanctions why did he not do anything about it? There are two theories - both unconfirmed - going around. First and foremost is that he saw this as an opportunity to take a break before the ODIs (tri-series), a format he prefers.
The other explanation is that Dhoni's plan of squeezing in the two extra overs by employing Virender Sehwag's part-time off-spin was upset by Australia's sensational collapse on Day 2.
With his pacers picking up wickets at regular intervals, Dhoni was forced to hold back Sehwag. He did bring him on in the 71st over with Australia's score reading 354/8, but with Sehwag himself picking up the last wicket of Ben Hilfenhaus in the 77th over, Dhoni's hopes of making up overs were dashed.
Interestingly, as per the official match-summary sheet, Australia, despite playing four pacers with longer run-ups, were five minutes ahead of their time.
So, no matter which way you look at the issue, it reeks of poor management on Team India's part, especially when Dhoni was already on notice for a similar offence in the Bridgetown Test against the West Indies last year.
Source:TOI
