Former England batsman Ian Bell opened about the famous 'Spirit of Cricket' moment in 2011 involving former India captain MS Dhoni and himself.
India toured England in 2011 for the four-match Test series. Although MS Dhoni-led side had a disappointing outing, suffering a 4-0 whitewash, but an incident took place during the Test series which won the hearts of almost everyone.
It was the third day of the second Test match where just before tea, Eoin Morgan tucked a ball on the leg-side which was stopped just short of the boundary rope by a diving Praveen Kumar. Ian Bell and Morgan thought it was a boundary and ran back to the pavilion for the interval.
Praveen then threw the ball to wicketkeeper MS Dhoni and he passed the ball to Abhinav Mukund, who dislodged the bails in no time. Bell, who was batting at 137 at the time, was legally declared run out after the Indian team appealed.
After the incident, the English crowd booed showed expressions of displeasure. However, MS Dhoni withdrew his appeal and allowed Ian Bell to continue after the break. The batsman went on to score 156 runs.
MS Dhoni wins ICC Spirit of Cricket award for the decade
While talking to The Grade Cricketer's YouTube channel, Ian Bell recalled the incident and admitted that it was his mistake because he ran too early to the pavilion without even confirming whether it was a boundary or not.
"Yes, it's interesting. When I look back to that, I mean, I must have been hungry or something because I just belted for the pavilion when I thought it was four if it was either way around, I would have been safe and we would have been fine.
“But yeah, they obviously got Dhoni a 'Spirit of the Game' award for the decade or something like that. But yeah [it was] a mistake on my behalf, should never do that," Ian Bell told Grade Cricketer's YouTube channel.
The former Indian skipper MS Dhoni was awarded the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade for his gesture. Even though India lost the match by 319 runs, the incident became the main highlight of the Test match.
