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India Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been banned for two ODIs by ICC Match Referee Jeff Crowe due to slow over-rate from his team in yesterday’s day nighter at Nagpur. Dhoni’s team took the match 45 minutes beyond the scheduled finish and the decision from Jeff Crowe does look fair enough. India at no point of time tried to maintain the over rates.
It was during the closing stages of the Sri Lankan innings that the Indians wasted plenty of time with the Captain discussing with the bowlers about the field positions. MS Dhoni looked very confused about his moves as the batting powerplay was also taken during the end stages. Adding to that was an injury to Angelo Mathews which received the Physio attention.
MS Dhoni is now going to miss the next two ODIs at Cuttack and Kolkata if the ban is effective immediately. Dhoni is now on the ICC radar just like former Indian Captain Sourav Ganguly who faced similar punishment. MSD has no chance of repeating the similar offence within the next 12 months which could result in a more severe ban period.
India fell short by three overs eventually in yesterday’s match. All the Indian players have been fined 40% of the match fees. There are news coming in that Gautam Gambhir has been made as the stand-in Captain. Other news is that Virender Sehwag is going to lead the side. As far as Gambhir is concerned, it would be the first time that he would be elevated as the Indian Captain. Dinesh Karthik is likely to replace Dhoni as the Wicket Keeper.