First official statement from the CSK camp about Thursday's incident.
Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming expectedly played down MS Dhoni's outburst in the post-match press conference. Fleming, almost speaking like a diplomat explained that MS Dhoni had entered the ground in the last over of the match against Rajasthan Royals after the no-ball fiasco to seek 'some clarity'. Fleming said that he had a chat with MSD, who briefed him about the incident.
Earlier in the post-match ceremony, man of the match MS Dhoni sort of prompted presenter Murali Karthik to bring up the topic. Perhaps Dhoni wanted to give his side of the story in what was an extremely uncharacteristic public outburst, which doesn't behove a cricketer of his stature. However, Karthik shied away from asking anything mildly controversial and completely followed his routine script, and he faced extreme criticism on social media for it.
Here's the clip which will be played millions of times in years to come:
Dhoni has been fined 50% of match fees for level 2 breach of conduct, after he agreed to charges levelled against him.
Amidst all the controversy, defending champion CSK look well set to reach the playoffs notching up their sixth win out of seven matches in IPL 12. Teams generally need to win eight matches to qualify for the final four. CSK edged out spirited Rajasthan Royals by four wickets courtesy a last-ball six by Mitchell Santner to win another close match. Royals couldn't cross the line despite showing significant improvement in all departments.
With agency inputs
1. Watch: Fleming's laboured defence of MS Dhoni
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In the post-match press conference, CSK head coach Stephen Fleming said, "100 wins is great, Dhoni is captain is very successful, as player heis outstanding, both are closely relate d,he played incredibly well today, very experienced."
When quizzed about Dhoni's ground invasion, Fleming said,"My understanding with discussion with captain, that we saw a no-ball called and then there was a confusion. Umpire at the bowler end had called a no-ball, and then were as confusion....MS was after some clarity, and it didn't seem to be coming, so he took the opportunity to go out and discuss it with the umpire. That's how I saw it, and that's how I discussed it with him afterwards".
2. What exactly happened
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The incident took place after Dhoni was dismissed for 58 runs off 43 balls while CSK was chasing a target of 152. Following his dismissal, RR's Ben Stokes bowled a high-full toss delivery to Mitchell Santner that was above the waist.
While umpire Ulhas Gandhe was about to signal the delivery as a non-bell, Bruce Oxenford, standing at square leg, said it was a legitimate delivery. Seeing this, Santner and Ravindra Jadeja got into an argument with the umpires.
A visibly-upset Dhoni, who was standing at the dugout, charged onto the field and got involved into an altercation with the match officials. But, the umpires stood with their decision.
3. Dhoni docked 50% of match fees
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Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni has been fined 50 per cent of his match fee after his fierce-on field argument with the umpires during his team's thrilling last-ball win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Thursday.
"MS Dhoni, the Chennai Super Kings captain, was fined 50 per cent of his match fees for breaching the VIVO Indian Premier League's (IPL) Code of Conduct during his team's match against Rajasthan Royals at Jaipur," an official statement said
"Dhoni admitted to the Level 2 offence 2.20 of the IPL's Code of Conduct and accepted the sanction," it added.
