Dhoni slapped a two-match ban
If the defeat on Friday night in the second ODI against Sri Lanka here wasn’t enough, the slow over-rate maintained by the Indians proved costly for the hosts’ skipper M.S. Dhoni who was banned for two one-dayers. The ban which is effective from immediate effect could mean that Dhoni will not take field in the subsequent ODIs at Cuttack (December 21) and Kolkata (December 24), will return to lead the team only for the fifth one-dayer (December 27) in New Delhi.
Meanwhile, Rajiv Shukla, spokesperson, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) stated on Saturday that the Indian skipper was informed of the ban by match referee Jeff Crowe verbally and that the board awaits a written notice on the same from International Cricket Council (ICC).
The second one-dayer ended 45 minutes behind the scheduled close of play due to frequent on-field discussions between the Indian players during the 47th and 48th of the Sri Lankan chase, prompting the match referee to take a strict action against the Dhoni. With Yuvraj Singh still fighting fitness issues, the Dhoni ban now has compounded the Men in Blue’s misery and Gautam Gambhir will lead the side in the next two games.
The visitors too were penalised for their slow over-rate during the second T20 game against India at Mohali after having fallen two overs short of the target. Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara was docked 40 per cent of his match fee while the rest of the side were fined 20 per cent each.
