Why Was MS Dhoni Not Banned? Angry Fans Slammed BCCI’s Biased Approach

India women’s captain Harmanpreet Kaur has been banned for 2 matches along with copping fines in match fees for her actions and criticism against the umpires in the third and final ODI of the Bangladesh series in Dhaka.

Harmanpreet Kaur is set to miss the first two matches of the Asian Games where India will start the tournament directly in the knockouts; she will miss the quarter-final and the semi-final and will be available only for the final, if India reaches it.

After being given out lbw, Harmanpreet reacted angrily. She smashed the stumps with her bat and proceeded toward the dressing room furiously, still arguing with the umpire. In the post-match presentation, she called the umpiring as “pathetic”

The bitterness took even more childish nature and brought out petulancy in the India women’s captain when later on when both captains, Harmanpreet and Nigar Sultana, were called to share the trophy -as the series ended 1-1 with the third ODI ending in a tie – Kaur was reportedly heard saying that Sultana should call the umpires as well to share the trophy. This made the Bangladeshi skipper angry and upset, who then took her team soon after outside the field.

Explained: Why ICC Has Banned Harmanpreet Kaur For 2 Matches

Harmanpreet Kaur was charged by the ICC on two different counts: she received three demerit points relating to “showing dissent at an umpire’s decision” and was also fined 50% of her match fee for the same offence; additionally, she also received a separate Level 1 penalty along with a fine of 25% of her match fee and one demerit point for “public criticism” of match officials. Accumulation of 4 demerit points meant that she will be suspended for India’s next two matches.

Harmanpreet Kaur gets banned for disrespecting umpires; Why wasn’t MS Dhoni?

MS Dhoni

After Harmanpreet Kaur got the 2-match suspension from the ICC, one fan on Twitter raised a cheeky query, triggering the CSK and MS Dhoni fans, by recalling the incident from the 2019 IPL when MS Dhon barged into the ground to have a heated argument with the on-field umpires during a game against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur.

MS Dhoni was fined only 50 percent of his match fees and there was no match suspension for this unprecedented act by the CSK skipper.