In the 2011 Nottingham Test, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni set a unique example of sportsmanship. Whose memories are still in the minds of the fans. Dhoni recalled Ian Bell despite the umpire being dismissed in that match. Now, nearly 10 years after the incident, Bell has blamed himself for it.
Bell said on a YouTube channel, 'I blame myself for that incident. When I had assumed that the ball had gone for fours, then I should not have considered towards the pavilion and went towards the pavilion. But Dhoni received the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade for that thing. But the mistake was on my side and I should not have done it. '
This whole incident happened exactly one ball before tea on the third day. Ian Bell was batting for 137 in England's second innings at the time. Ishant Sharma to Eoin Morgan for deep square leg. Ian Bell felt as if the ball had touched the boundary and, without completing three runs, came to Morgan and began to go towards the pavilion, assuming 'tee time'. But Praveen Kumar intercepted the ball at the boundary line and he threw the ball towards Dhoni. Dhoni then threw the ball at the non-striker end, where Abhinav Mukund scattered the stumps. The Indian players appealed for a run-out and the umpire called Bell a run-out.
During the tea time, England captain Andrew Strauss and coach Andy Flower arrived in the Indian dressing room during the tea time requesting to withdraw the appeal. Dhoni withdrew the appeal after discussing with the team management. In such a situation, when the match started after tea, Bell again took the field with Eoin Morgan. In such a situation, the audience present on the ground was surprised. A while back, the audience who were hooting for Team India were applauding the Indian team.
Ian Bell was dismissed for 159 runs in that innings. England won the Nottingham Test match by a big margin of 319 runs. In the next two Tests, India had to face defeat and their 4–0 sweep was wiped out. Last year, the ICC conferred MS Dhoni with the 'Spirit of Cricket Award' of the decade for the spirit of the game.