India v Sri Lanka, Commonwealth Bank Series, Adelaide

Dhoni matter of fact about five-ball over

February 14, 2012

Cricket +

	MS Dhoni: I gave a wrong call and that [Gautam Gambhir's run out] really affected the result.
Related Links Players/Officials: MS Dhoni Matches: India v Sri Lanka at Adelaide Series/Tournaments: Commonwealth Bank Series Teams: India | Sri Lanka

India don't want to create controversy about the five-ball 30th over that may or may not have made a difference to the final result of a tight game, a tie. However, it gave MS Dhoni an opportunity to raise the question that, with so much technology available, why couldn't the officials ensure the proper counting of balls, and why blindly follow the DRS?

The essence of Dhoni's comments, though, was that this could easily be turned into a controversy but he didn't want to do so. "Duncan [Fletcher, the coach] told me about it," Dhoni said. "There have been five-ball overs in the past, but we have seen the third umpire interfere and you have to come back and bowl that ball. Usually that's what has happened to us also. It didn't happen in this game, fair enough. Nothing much can be done now.

"I don't know [if a full over might have broken the tie] because you could have had a dot ball. It happens in cricket, so maybe it would have been a dot."

Dhoni said India were not going to lodge an official complaint. "Well because it's done and dusted," he said. "That's what is important. We can create a big fuss out of it but what's the point? It's like a controversy standing right at the edge, just about to happen, because we have seen in the past that we have bowled an over and they have almost changed ends. But then the third umpire interferes and says, 'Okay you have to bowl one more ball in this particular over". It didn't happen in this game. I don't know why. We don't really want to create a controversy."

As an afterthought, Dhoni took a dig at DRS. "If this can happen then I don't know why people back DRS so much," Dhoni said. "We have seen people happy with DRS in one series as long as it goes in their favour. Once it doesn't go in their favour, they are quite unhappy about it so. I am quite happy with three individuals. If I am not wrong, two umpires in the middle and the match referee and the scorer [are there], and it has still happened. Better off accepting it because we humans are bound to make mistakes."

The said over was, at that time, the second best of India's innings. Gautam Gambhir and Dhoni had taken nine off Malinga when over was called after five balls. Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka's captain, said he didn't know of the error. "I am not complaining," he joked.