Ian Bell Run Out

Ian Bell was out and MS Dhoni should not have withdrawn his appeal.

The law of the game is clear, as was established by the umpire’s decision to give him out. There is no argument there.

So now the debate goes to the spirit of the game. I see nothing against the spirit of the game in letting the umpire’s decision stand.

There are questions to be asked, though. Was Bell attempting a run? Or was he just careless in the way he handled himself?

Like most of you, I watched that replay over a dozen times. It was clear to me that Ian Bell was not jogging off the field but rather was trying to get a fourth run in. As he jogged half way down the pitch he noticed Eion Morgan well grounded in his crease. Instead of running back and grounding his bat, Bell stopped jogging and continued to walk toward the bowlers end.

There are two possible things that went through Bell’s mind.

If he thought it was a four (I don’t think he did) then he violated cricket 101 by assuming it was a boundary. If on the other hand he assumed that Morgan was fine with three runs then he should have sprinted back and grounded his bat since the over hadn’t been called by the umpire.

In every sport the first thing players are taught is that you keep playing until you hear the whistle (or in this case, the umpire calling over). Teams across all sports have suffered needless defeats because their players failed to follow that rule.

A few commentators argued that very often, at the end of a session, batsmen will start jogging toward the pavilion. That is true. But do they start jogging and then stop after a few steps as abruptly as Bell did? If he was jogging off, then why did he look at the fielder twice before stopping? Players only look at the fielders the way Bell did when they are attempting a run.

Watch it again and you’ll see what I mean.

Had Bell grounded his bat, left the crease walkingtoward Morgan, removing his gloves as if he was heading to the pavilion to have some tea and scones, my view might have been different.

But he was run out while attempting a run. Anyone who says that running out a batsman attempting a run is against the spirit of the game has a different view of the spirit than I ever will.

Dhoni’s decision will be debated for a while. The boos the Indian team before tea versus the cheers and standing ovation received after tea, demonstrates the drama this wicket would have caused.

The battle lines would have been drawn and the rest of the series would have been played with a different tone. The Indians would have faced a hostile crowd and an even more hostile English media for the next few weeks.

But now MS Dhoni will be hailed a hero in England and the praise will probably be coupled with a sportsmanship award from the ICC a few months down the line.

On a side note, India has done a great job of handing the Test back to England. I fear we may be playing to save the test match again. Never a fun experience.

This article was originally published at http://www.gqindia.com/content/dhoni’s-hero-england-0