MS Dhoni fined 75% of match fee for shoving Mustafizur Rahman

MIRPUR: ICC match referee Andy Pycroft on Friday threw out Indian captain MS Dhoni's 'not guilty' plea on his collision with Bangladesh rookie pacer Mustafizur Rahman during the first ODI and fined him 75% of his match fee. Pycroft came to the conclusion that Dhoni, with his experience, could have avoided body contact with the bowler, who had come in his path, but didn't do so.
Explaining his decision, Pycroft said: "In the hearing, Dhoni defended the charge on the basis that the bowler was on the wrong line and realizing that he couldn't avoid the collision, he used his hand and arm to push him away as he went through to 'minimise the impact'.
"However, my assessment was that Dhoni deliberately pushed and shouldered Mustafizur, which was inappropriate. Even if there was a narrow gap between the runner (Suresh Raina) and the bowler, an experienced Dhoni should have tried to avoid the collision as cricket is a non-contact sport and the players are expected to avoid physical contact at all times. On this basis, I fined Dhoni 75% of his match fee".
The match referee also fined Mustafizur 50% of his match fee after he accepted that he should have moved away from the batsman's path. The incident happened in the 25th over when Dhoni made a physical contact with debutant Mustafizur while running a single. Following the contact, the left-arm fast bowler was injured and left the field for treatment.
The charge had been laid by the on-field umpires Rod Tucker and Enamul Haque, as well as third umpire Anisur Rahman and fourth umpire Masudur Rahman. Both the players pleaded not guilty to the charge laid by the umpires and a hearing was held on Friday morning by Pycroft in which television footage was used. Apart from the match officials, both the players and their managers attended the hearing.
Both players were found guilty of breaching Article 2.2.4 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to "inappropriate and deliberate physical contact be tween players in the course of play during an international match".
Pycroft said, "Mustafizur was fined 50% of his fee after he admitted that that his actions in not getting out of the batsman's way were inappropriate and he should have done more to avoid contact."
'Typical street clash'
After the match, Dhoni had sought to play down the collision, saying it occurred because of a misunderstanding. "I thought he (Mustafizur) will move and he thought I will move (out of the way) and both of us ended up colliding.
"I had to take the closest path possible to get to the other side. If you go around the bowler, more often than not, you'll get the batsman out. Either I should have moved to the right or he should have moved to the left. Both thought maybe the other guy will move and ended up having what you can say is a typical street clash of a kind. Thankfully he didn't get injured and I didn't get injured," Dhoni stated at the press conference.
Mustafizur, on his part admitted that it was wrong on his part to have got into batsmen's path and said that he bore no ill-will against anyone. "I had changed direction and I was wrong. Later, we discussed about it. So it's okay," he said in broken English.
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza played down the incident, saying, "Some things happen during matches."
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