The Hindu : Sport : All about the Dhoni-Lara incident

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Wednesday, Jun 07, 2006

Sport

Sport

All about the Dhoni-Lara incident

Special Correspondent

Lara waggled a finger at umpire Rauf before grabbing the ball from him

St. John's: Late on Monday evening as M.S. Dhoni took to Dave Mohammed's left-arm wrist spin, an incident of considerable intrigue occurred at the Antigua Recreation Ground here. An incident that seemed to slip through the crevice between the laws of cricket and the spirit of the game, introducing an edge to the match that hadn't existed before. Add to the mix the recent debate on the extent of technology in umpiring and you've got yourself a purler.

Dhoni — in the midst of a six-hitting frenzy — swung Mohammed to the deep midwicket boundary and Daren Ganga caught the ball. This much is certain; irrefutable even. Then things got messy.

For starters, did Ganga complete the catch legally? The man from Trinidad had been perilously close to the boundary rope, with his back to it. Dhoni began to walk and Dravid looked to call his batsmen in. The umpires conferred; Dhoni stopped. "It was just eye contact with the umpires, they said we are not really sure, we will be asking the third umpire," said the Indian wicketkeeper.

Replays inconclusive

Television replays were inconclusive; the angles available could not establish one way or the other if Ganga's heel had nudged the rope. Third-umpire Billy Doctrove mulled over the decision for what seemed an eternity. Meanwhile, Brian Lara spoke both with the umpires and the batsmen.

"Lara came up to me and said I am taking charge of my players, whatever they say will be the truth so I decided to walk off," said Dhoni. "He came to me later. First Daren (Ganga) came up to me, but he was not really sure because the rope was behind him. I think it's really hard to feel a paper if you step on it. He was not entirely sure about that, he said he wasn't sure if he had stepped on it or not."

Lara waggled a finger at umpire Asad Rauf before grabbing the ball from him and walking Mohammed to the start of his run-up. Then both batsmen left the field. Had Dravid declared? Was Dhoni out? No one seemed to know as the scoreboard stopped at 521 for five, neither adding six to the total if the catch were illegal nor increasing the wicket column to six if it were clean.

"No, the umpires did not tell me I was out," said Dhoni. "I accepted the fielder's word and I came back. It was between them, they were having a chat between them. I think it is a topic that should be left alone for now, we had enough of it on the field."

Presumably, Dravid declared only when he saw Dhoni walk the second time, and Kaif followed. The final version of the official scoreboard supported this; so did Dhoni. "It was between me, Kaif and whoever was on the field, not the captain."

Something to think about

But the questions don't go away. Should the batsman take the fielder's word (something Ponting suggested at the captains' meeting and got turned down)? Can a production company be held accountable if it fails to supply conclusive replays? Or worse, suppresses or tampers with them as Steve Bucknor recently charged?

In this incident, if Dravid had prematurely declared under the mistaken assumption Dhoni was out, could he reverse his decision if Dhoni was ruled not out by the umpires? And will Lara be fined for dissent?

West Indies coach Bennett King chose to "move on" saying the issue was "done and dusted with."

Match referee Jeff Crowe's statement, as relayed by the West Indies media manager Imran Khan, was: "The two captains met with the umpires at the end of play and everyone left the meeting feeling pleased. Play will continue as normal."

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