M.S. Dhoni expressed dismay over the Level I offence > judgement under the ICC Code of Conduct, that was delivered upon Ravindra Jadeja following an incident with James Anderson in the first Test at Trent Bridge. Dhoni said: “To me, it is a very hurtful decision. A lot of things were neglected in judging the case.”
He explained the sequence of events: “The umpires called for lunch and we started walking. I don’t want to take any other individual’s name. We walked and the other individual started using foul language against Jadeja. I had to step in the middle. And by the time we reached the ropes I thought the thing has diffused.”
“By the time we were going through the Members’ Area I was ahead of Jadeja. Again something happened. Something was said to him. And he just turned across to that individual and after that he was pushed. And he barely gained his balance and he turned to see as to what is happening. And on the basis of that he is fined.”
“It was said that it was against the spirit of the game. What we have to see is we can’t ignore what has happened. If someone is saying something to you from behind and you just turn and you look. That is not aggressive. Especially the fact that the bat was under his armpit throughout and right from lunch till he entered the dressing room, not one word was spoken by him. So a lot of things were neglected.”
Scope to appeal Asked about BCCI’s scope to appeal, Dhoni replied: “Allegation (from England) is of Level 2 and Jadeja gets punished under Level 1, the beauty of Level 1 is you cannot appeal against it. But BCCI and the legal experts are working things out.”
Questioned if he thought BCCI should appeal, Dhoni said: “Definitely.”
