“We are definitely not at all happy with the verdict”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has announced that he is outraged after all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was fined 50 per cent of his match fee.
Jadeja’s fine comes after he and England pace bowler James Anderson were involved in an altercation on the second day of the first Test in Nottingham.
Even though Jadeja was initially hit with a Level 2 charge by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), match referee David Boon said that he was “not comfortably satisfied” with the all-rounder’s role in the incident.
As a result, Jadeja was fined after being found guilty of “conduct contrary to the spirit of the game”.
“To me, it is a very hurtful decision,” Dhoni, who witnessed the incident, said. “A lot of things were neglected in judging the case. If you see, what exactly happened, the umpires called for lunch and we started walking. I don’t want to take any other individual’s name. We started walking, and the other individual started using foul language against Jadeja. I had to step in the middle. And by the time we reached the ropes I thought the thing has diffused.
“By the time we were going through the members’ area I was ahead of Jadeja. Jadeja was a couple of yards behind me. Again something happened. Something was told to him. And he just turned across to the individual, and after that he was pushed. And he barely gained his balance, and he turned to see as to what is happening. And on the basis of that he is fined.
“It was said that it was against the spirit of the game, and everything. What we have to see is, we can’t ignore what has happened. If someone is saying something to you from behind and you just turn and you look, that is not aggressive. Especially the fact that the bat was under his armpit throughout – right from [calling of] lunch till he entered the dressing room. Not one word was spoken by him.”
Dhoni also noted that Jadeja had not been aggressive in any way whatsoever.
“So a lot of things were neglected,” he said. “It’s for you guys to decide the things I am saying and if I have not lied. When it comes to factual matter, Jadeja – whatever he did – was not aggressive. I don’t think there was even a little bit of aggression in that, and that is why I am very hurt by the verdict that has been given.”
Dhoni is also infuriated that Jadeja cannot appeal against his fine since it was a Level 1 charge.
“That’s the beauty of it,” he said. “Allegation is of Level 2, and Jadeja gets punished under Level 1. The beauty of Level 1 is you cannot appeal against it. But BCCI and legal are working things out. We are definitely not at all happy with the verdict. I have dictated what the facts were.”