JOIN USMahendra Singh Dhoni’s insistence to press charges against James Anderson came under attack from the British media on Saturday which said it “smacked of opportunism” and the exoneration of the paceman was “humiliation” for India.
The Judicial Commisioner Gordon Lewis found both Anderson and Ravindra Jadeja not guilty in an alleged pushing incident involving the two players after a six-hour hearing.
“ A finding that represents clear humiliation for India and their captain MS Dhoni, who initiated proceedings after a spat between the two at Trent Bridge,” wrote the Daily Telegraph under the headline, ‘India humiliated as England’s James Anderson is clear’.
The paper said India’s tactics were aimed at taking revenge on Anderson for past incidents.
“It is a chastening verdict for cricket’s leading power. India’s players have long thought Anderson’s boorish sledging to be unacceptable and their admission probably weakened their case here which smacked of opportunism to get the bowler for past misdemeanours.”
“Dhoni’s persistence with the charge, after the two boards had instructed the players to sort it out, made it look like a personal crusade for which Duncan Fletcher, India’s coach, in a rare misjudgment, backed him,” the Daily Telegraph wrote.
Daily Mail came up with another scathing piece. “What an absolute joke that was. It should never have reached the stage where they were involving lawyers, defendants and witnesses, like some serious court case. It was like Fred Karno’s circus! ,” wrote David Lloyd.
The Guardian was also critical of Dhoni’s action. “So those who derided the whole process- which began on July 10 when India’s captain MS Dhoni felt sufficiently strongly to insist on going straight to the ICC to press level three charges without even going through his own board as a waste of time and money have been proved emphatically correct,” the paper wrote.