Was MS Dhoni right in pushing Mustafizur Rahman aside?

Mustafizur Rahman's confidence may have been dented after the incident.

The first One-Day International (ODI) between India and Bangladesh has resulted in a famous 79-run victory for the latter. Among the many key moments in the match was India skipper MS Dhoni pushing a young Mustafizur Rahman aside. The push was such that the debutant appeared to be in a state of discomfort after the incident and had to leave the ground temporarily. Amit Banerjee discusses the ethical side of the incident whether Dhoni was right in his action or not.

Bangladesh have established themselves as kings on their own soil with a daunting 79-run victory against India in the first ODI at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Dhaka. It was a game in which the Indians were outplayed in every department by the hosts, with a young Mustafizur Rahman standing out from the others with a terrific five-wicket haul, which happened to occur in his One-Day debut. READ: Bangladesh defeat India by record margin

The opening game of the three-ODI series has been one that has seen the players letting their performance express their aggression and passion for the most part. There has, however, been a couple of clashes during the proceedings at Sher-e-Bangla. One of them was Dhoni crashing into Mustafizur Rahman while attempting to take a run, which the latter having to be taken off the field due to the impact of the blow.

The nature of the clash is one which has caused many a heated argument among the parties involved. It invokes memories of the famous collision between Gautam Gambhir and Shahid Afridi during an India-Pakistan bilateral series in 2007. The incident had caused the umpire and several other players to intervene, but thankfully the did not boil into a major controversy. Updates: India vs Bangladesh, 1st ODI at Dhaka

The Dhoni-Mustafizur incident on the other hand, did not get as heated, mainly due to Dhoni’s cool nature and non-willingness to participate in controversies. But for Mustafizur, whose only venture in international cricket was a Twenty20 International (T20I) against Pakistan in April, the incident manifests itself into a dark memory.

Though Dhoni cannot be held entirely accountable for the incident, one feels that he could have handled the issue better. He has led India for nearly a decade now and nurtured many a youngster. Naturally, he would know what impact such an incident would have mentally on the youngster. Scorecard: India vs Bangladesh, 1st ODI at Dhaka

He could have had a chat with Mustafizur or warned the opposition captain Mashrafe Mortaza. What he did eventually will be perceived as India attempting to bully the Bangladesh team, which will only contribute to tensions between the people of the two sub-continental cricket-crazy nations.

Let us hope the incident does not boil into a major controversy in the times of come like the Rohit Sharma-no-ball incident. Mustafizur went on to record a memorable spell and earn the accolades of his skipper, team-mates as well as millions of fans. The youngster should shrug the incident off and be inspired to fire many more such spells in the coming matches, for he has a bright career ahead of him.

 (Amit Banerjee, a reporter at CricketCountry, takes keen interest in photography, travelling, technology, automobiles, food and, of course, cricket. He can be followed on Twitter via his handle @akb287)

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