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Daryl Harper raises questions on MS Dhoni’s spirit of cricket Posted: 28 Nov 2012 03:40 AM PST Former ICC umpire Daryl Harper has said that the Indian captain MS Dhoni has repeatedly offended against the spirit of cricket. This came after Dhoni did not recall England batsman Jonny Bairstow who was controversially given out caught by Gautam Gambhir at silly mid-off in the Mumbai Test. A leading edge from Bairstow was taken well by Gambhir but there was doubt whether the ball hit the grill of Gambhir's helmet before he completed the catch as the rule states that a batsman cannot be given out if the ball hits a fielder's helmet. "It is a clear breach of the laws of cricket, and any national captain worth his weight in salt – or any other condiment – would have immediately withdrawn the appeal and allowed Bairstow to continue his innings," Harper told Sports360. "But this captain is a repeat offender MS Dhoni is a repeat offender of spirit of cricket,” says former umpire Daryll Harper, when it comes to ignoring the spirit of cricket. Harper went on to list numerous incidents in which he believed that Dhoni's behaviour had violated the spirit of the game. After the first Test in West Indies in 2011, Dhoni went on to say that India had been forced to take more than ten wickets in the second innings, taking a dig at the umpires officiating in that game. The most blatant incident according to Harper was the dismissal of Ian Bell during India's tour of England in 2011. Though Bell was allowed to return to the crease, Harper said that the decision was taken despite Dhoni's objection. Harper claimed that the umpires asked Dhoni three times to withdraw his appeal but he refused and it took England coach, Andy Flower to go and talk to him in the dressing room to overturn the appeal. This attitude, according to Harper, suggests Dhoni considers himself to be above the game. Harper was a Test umpire from 1998 to 2011 and was even a member of ICC's Elite Panel from 2002 to 2011. He announced his retirement following complaints from India about the quality of his umpiring in the first Test against West Indies in Jamaice in 2011.

Sunil Gavaskar defends squad selection for India-England 3rd test at Kolkata #IndvsEng Posted: 28 Nov 2012 03:09 AM PST Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar on Tuesday backed the national selectors for not making changes to the Test squad in the wake of the crushing defeat against England in the Mumbai match, saying it was not required at this stage. The national selection committee persisted with the same squad for the Kolkata Test. Only Bengal paceman Ashok Dinda was drafted in the squad in place of injured Umesh Yadav. “There are quite a few youngsters who are knocking the doors. India could have tried a few youngsters if they were 2-0 up in the series. We can’t make wholesale changes, it creates uncertainty…” Gavaskar told NDTV. “We have to look at the situations also. The selection committees are not keen to experiment or inject young blood. That has been the trend in the last couple of years and it has not changed.” Gavaskar said the biggest bane of Indian side is complacency. “Complacency has been the bane of Indian cricket. For decades it has been there, even when I used to play. It has always let us down. When the opposition is 160 for 5 or six, we tend to relax and then the wicket-keeper with tail-enders have added 200 runs. This is what happened in the first Test and here (Mumbai) as well,” he said. The legendary opener said the approach has to be changed in future. “The only way is to be a bit ruthless. But it not in our nature to be ruthless.” As the discussion veered towards growing pressure on an under-performing Sachin Tendulkar, Gavaskar said there was no need of that kind of talk about a batsman, who has done so much for Indian cricket. “Why are we in such a rush for someone who has been heartthrob of India for so long. We react in extreme. When we love and the other way. Australia have always been talked as ruthless but have they dropped Ricky Ponting for the third Test (against South Africa),” Gavaskar asked. Tendulkar has been out of form for a long time as he has scored just 153 runs at an average of 15.3 in his last 10 innings, which is the lowest by an Indian top-order batsman in the corresponding period. Gavaskar said Tendulkar’s approach towards improvement was okay and soon he will bounce back. “The way he has been applying himself, you can see he’s applying his mind. In the first innings, he took a leg-stump guard and when he has bowled, he took a middle-stump guard. “He’ll comeback. He and Ponting are kind of players, who will not go quietly, they’ll go with a roar,” he said.

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