This one falls short of a controversy

Talking point: MS Dhoni plays down umpire fry's five-ball over gaffe

High on his backfoot,Gautam Gambhir swatted Lasith Malingas sharp and rising delivery from his shoulders to the fine-leg fence. It was the second ball of the 30th over and Gambhirs first boundary since the 16th. But a lot more importantly,it was Indias best phase in a long time. Gambhir ran the third ball to square-leg for a single,while his partner MS Dhoni pinched two runs off the fourth. The Indian captain then hurried to umpire Simon Frys end off the fifth delivery,only to retain the strike as the official in red called an end to the over.

None of the four umpires on and off the field noticed and neither did the batsmen,but umpire Fry had indeed called a five-ball over.

And in a match that ended with the teams sharing points in a tie,that moment of collective negligence perhaps cost the match an outright result of victories and losses for only the 26th time in one-day history.

Although India coach Duncan Fletcher noticed this rare occurrence,the 236-a-side game had moved on into the next over by then. Duncan told me about it. But nothing much could be done by then, said Dhoni. We have seen in the past that when a five-ball over is bowled,the third umpire interferes and forces the bowling side to bowl that extra ball. It didnt happen in this game,fair enough. Nothing much can be done about it now.

Prior to the 30th over of the game,where Gambhir and MS Dhoni conjured up nine runs,India had managed 10 runs in just one over the 21st. After that curtailed instance,India didnt manage to get to a run-a-ball over until the 35th. The Indians could have struck a few more runs when the iron was hot,but Dhoni is clearly not a believer in ifs-and-buts.

It could have been a dot ball also. That could have happened, said Dhoni,doing his best to steer this topic off controversies during the press conference. Dots occur more often than other shots in cricket,it could have been a dot. But did the team take it up with the officials at the end of the game? No,apparently.

No fuss

Its done and dusted. Thats what is important, Dhoni reiterated. We could have created a big fuss,but whats the point. We dont really want to create a controversy. And the main point is,we cant go back to the field right now to play that remaining ball.

Story continues below this ad

Human error has always been fine with Dhoni. So when the five-ball question was posed with an umpires angle (How could they miss it?) the captain helped himself to another round of criticising his favourite punching bag the DRS.

If we cant ensure a six-ball over with all the technology in the hands of the two umpires on the field,two off it and the scorers,then I dont know why people back DRS so much, he said. We have seen instances where a team likes it one series,when it is going in their favour,and are unhappy in the next. I am quite alright with three individuals making a mistake. It is only human. Hopefully it wont be repeated with us or any other team.

Like Dhoni,Mahela Jayawardene too was blissfully unaware until he was told about the occurrence at the press conference. He looked quizzical first,before bursting into a laugh and saying: Im really not complaining!

Why would he?