Nottingham, July 31: Day 3 of the Trent Bridge was marked by some excitement thanks to the Ian Bell episode. Eoin Morgan hit the last ball before tea which seemed to have touched the boundary ropes. The fielder, Praveen Kumar and both the batsmen – Morgan and Ian Bell - assumed it was a four. After Kumar threw the ball from the deep to wicketkeeper MS Dhoni both the batsmen were at the non-striker’s end after having run three runs. The ball was collected, the bails flicked by a fielder an appeal made. Since the umpires had not officially called tea, the ball was still in play and Bell was given out as per the laws of the game. The decision was reversed in the only way it could be - MS Dhoni withdrew his appeal and Bell came out to continue his innings after the tea session.

With England cruising to a massive lead in the second innings on the back of Ian Bell’s magnificent innings, Dhoni’s decision became even more special, a tribute to the spirit if the game.

Senior Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid spoke about what transpired at tea after the conclusion of the day’s play.

Excerpts:

On the sequence of events during tea

Once they came back for tea the discussion did start in the dressing room as it does about the incident - obviously there was a discussion. In the laws of the game, if you follow them strictly, he was out, but it just didn’t feel right in the spirit of the game and there was a discussion about it at the tea interval. And after [that] [MS] Dhoni and [Duncan] Fletcher convened a meeting. Dhoni led the meeting and there was unanimity in the team that we should reinstate Ian Bell because the spirit of the game was important; we felt that by getting him out in that way, it would contravene the spirit of the game.

On whether it was instinctive in the field when the umpire asked Dhoni if the appeal had been made and whether the decision wouldn’t have been overturned had the tea break not come into play then

We would never know that, would we? How will you ever know what happens if? It was tea time and so we had [the] time to go back and discuss it as a team. [In other circumstances] you might not have had the time. Who knows? These things are all a matter of conjecture. You will never know the answer to that.

On whether he, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman played any role in the decision

There was unanimity in the team led by Dhoni that we needed to protect the spirit of the game.

On the spirit of the game coming up during nicks and batsmen walking and other such situations

There are grey areas; I don’t think walking is something that you can compare with this. This was in some ways a unique incident. In the West Indies, Laxman was given out stumped two or three Test matches back when he was trying to drag his feet back; he wasn’t attempting a run or anything and that left a bit of a bitter taste in our mouths as it happened to one of our batsmen. So [all such decisions], if you turned it around and it happened to our batsman, we would not have been happy about it. All those things were talked about and discussed and I think in the end the right decision was made.

On the bowlers

It is hard work for the bowlers. I really have sympathy for people like Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar; they played three Test matches in West Indies, they have come here back to back and both the Test matches they have had to shoulder the responsibility [that comes with having] one bowler less. It’s not been easy for the guys; they have bowled over 100 overs in two back to back Test matches, so it’s been tough for the two of them. They have really tried their best; in terms of attitude and effort and commitment, you can’t fault our guys. We just weren’t good enough and England bat deep. They have a great advantage of batting deep. They have got really good No. 7s [and] No. 8s and what tends to happen [is] once the bowlers get tired, once you have finished your spell, [then] obviously a No. 6, 7 ,8 can hit. They have a good team and it happens with any team. We were a bowler short today and they cashed in and they made the most of it. Yes, we’ve got our backs to the wall.

On Harbhajan Singh who bowled only nine overs and was on and off the field

He has got a bit of a stomach injury, some strain in the stomach muscle, so he was in and out; [the injury was] giving him a lot of discomfort when he was trying to bowl. It was tough; then you ended [up] with three bowlers, trying to fill in with the part-time [bowling] of Yuvraj [Singh] and [Suresh] Raina; it’s not easy. It’s tough on the guys. We fought hard but in the last session, even though we had taken a couple of good quick wickets with the new ball, we just couldn’t force the issue because the bowlers were really tired.