Indians restore belief in cricket as they call Ian Bell back to the crease
Last updated 8/1/2011 12:16:33 PM
Indians restore belief in cricket as they call Ian Bell back to the crease
It was a decision which had even the good and the great at each others throats when Ian Bell was controversially run out in the Trent Bridge test between England and India.
But, in the end, it was a moment which gave hope to all genuine sportsmen – not counting ex England captains – as Bell was, quite rightly, recalled.
With the Indians one down in a series which will decide the best test team in the world, Warwickshire's Bell was unbeaten on 137 and taking the game away from the top team.
But with everyone heading off for tea and the umpire handing back the jersey to the bowler Kumar chased a ball to the boundary and was totally unaware he had stopped the ball and, in fact, did not even know where it was as he struggled to his feet before lobbing it towards his wicketkeeper without any undue hurry.
In the meantime Bell and Eoin Morgan had completed three runs, assumed the ball had gone for four and made their way to the pavilion.
But, unknown to them and most of the people in the ground, Indian skipper Mahendra Dhoni has underarmed the ball to Abhinav Mukund who quietly flicked off a bail and appealed.
Umpires Asad Rauf and Marias Erasmus were clearly perturbed and asked the Indians if they wanted to withdraw their appeal on two occasions but each time they were told no and were forced to give Bell run out who was informed by fourth umpire Tim Robinson.
The crowd were in uproar, as was the commentary box and the press box. By the letter of the law Bell was out but by all that is decent in cricket he was not.
England skipper Andrew Strauss and team director Andy Flower approached the Indians during tea and, after a ten minute meeting, they invited Bell back to the crease.
Unfortunately no one told the still irate crowd nor those ex captains in the commentary box who were still inflating their own egos and not journalistically capable of checking the facts, even after Bell walked out with Morgan to turn the crowd's jeers to cheers.
Bell admitted afterwards to his naivety and Dhoni came in for massive praise all round except from those self important captains who still couldn't grasp the importance of what had happened on the green fields of England.
Rahul Dravid, one of the nicest men in the game and a major influence in the Indian dressing room, said that the team watched replays of the incident before unanimously agreeing to let Bell off.
The good and the great in the Sky commentary Box pointed out that Bell would have been a goner if it had been any other time other than the last ball before tea, completely failing to grasp the fact that the incident would never have occurred if it hadn't been the final ball of the session.
At least the crowd showed their manners by cheering the Indians and especially Dhoni while Bell thanked them and admitted to his own stupidity.
It was a massive decision by the Indians, keeping this outstanding series up there amongst the best and most exciting and stopped it from degenerating into a nasty crescendo.