MS Dhoni was fired up by the way no-ball was handled: Stephen Fleming

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was “fired up” by the way the last-over no-ball was handled and walked on to the field to get some clarity over the whole incident, Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming said.

In a rare instance, Dhoni, who was not even meant to be onthe field of play, lost his cool and rushed out of the dug-out to challengeumpire Ulhas Gandhe after he flip-flopped on a no ball during the IPL matchagainst Rajasthan Royal on Thursday night.

   

“He was certainly fired up the way the decision was handledand why it was overturned. It was a lack of clarity, obviously from him and hewanted to get it clarified at a key moment,” Fleming said in the post-matchpresentation.

 “It is unusual, he isgenerally pretty calculative, so it is something that he will be questionedabout I am sure for a long time.” The incident happened in the fourth ball ofthe last over when Ben Stokes bowled a waist high full toss to MitchellSantner. Initially, it looked as if umpire Ulhas Gandhe was about to signalno-ball only to decide otherwise.

Dhoni, who was dismissed in the previous delivery, lost hisbearing at the incident and walked into the field of play and took the umpirehead-on. He was seen angrily gesturing at the umpire before leg umpire ChrisGaffaney asked Dhoni to leave.

The former India captain, however, escaped a ban and was letoff with a 50 per cent fine on his match fee.

“My understanding in discussing it with the captain was thatwe saw a no-ball called and there was confusion. Our understanding was that theumpire at the bowler’s end called a no-ball and then there was confusion aroundwhether there was no-ball or not,” Fleming said.

 “MS was after someclarity and it didn’t seem to be coming, so he took the opportunity to go outand discuss with the umpires. That’s how I saw it and that’s how I discussedwith him afterwards.

“I can’t say whether it was right or not. What wasn’t rightwas the confusion around the decision. It is above my pay grade early to gofurther than that.” Rajasthan Royals opener Jos Buttler said it was probablynot right for Dhoni to step on to the field. “I am not sure if that was theright thing to do. Obviously, tensions are running high in the IPL and everyrun counts and it was probably a big moment in the game, but whether steppingonto the pitch is quite right – I’d say probably not,” Buttler said at thepost-match conference.

CSK went on to win the match after Santner smashed a six offthe last ball to power the team to a four-wicket win. The controversyovershadowed Dhoni’s achievement of registering his 100th win as IPL captain.The victory took Chennai to the top of the table with 12 points in seven games.

“Firstly, a 100 wins is great, secondly Dhoni as captain is very successful, Dhoni as a player is outstanding. They are both very closely related,” Fleming said. Chennai will next take on Kolkata Knight Riders on April 14.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ten + 11 =