Dhoni won the award for his incredible gesture towards Ian Bell in Nottingham Test of 2011.
India cricket legend MS Dhoni won the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade for his decision to recall Ian Bell after a controversial run out in the 2011 Nottingham Test between England and India.
On Monday, December 28, the International Cricket Council (ICC) bestowed the honor upon Dhoni after the former India captain was chosen by fans unanimously for his gesture of calling back Ian Bell after a bizarre run out in the Nottingham Test in 2011.
The incident took place in the afternoon session on Day 3 of the second Test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham when Bell was batting on 137 and hit a shot and he had mistakenly assumed that the ball had reached the rope and gone for four and went up to Eoin Morgan for a chat.
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While Bell was talking to his batting partner Morgan, Praveen Kumar threw the ball from the deep, and Abhinav Mukund took the bails off and the Englishman was controversially given run out for being outside his crease in Nottingham in a 2011 Test match.
After the tea break, Dhoni decided to retract the appeal, prioritizing grace over gamesmanship, after having a discussion with the team as Bell continued his innings and added 22 more runs before being caught at slip by Yuvraj Singh for 159 in the game and later hailed Dhoni’s gesture.
Rahul Dravid explained: “There was a team discussion during the tea interval, Dhoni and Fletcher convened the meeting, and Dhoni led it. There was a feeling of unanimity that we should reinstate Bell because the spirit of the game was important and that getting him out in that way would contravene the spirit.”
Bell had said after the game: “I didn't know until the last minute that I would be going back out again but the way it's been handled has been fantastic and in the spirit of the game.”
Meanwhile, the Indian cricket team's official Instagram handle shared a post to congratulate Dhoni on winning the spirit of the cricket award of the decade. With the fans flooded the comments section with heartwarming messages for the legend, Rohit Sharma’s reaction stole the show.
Have a look here:
(With ICC Inputs)