Ian Bell admits his mistake in the famous run-out involving him and MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni and Ian Bell were involved in a controversial incident during the second Test of the four-match series between India and England in Nottingham in 2011. On the third day just before Tea, the veteran batsman Ian Bell was playing at 137, when his partner Eoin Morgan hit the ball towards the leg-side.

Both Bell and Morgan believed that it was a boundary, thus, both the batters moved away from the crease and started going back to the pavilion. Meanwhile, Praveen Kumar, who was standing at the boundary, just managed to stop the ball and then passed it to MS Dhoni, who in turn threw the ball towards Abhinav Mukund.

Mukund quickly dismantled the stumps and the on-field umpire declared Bell as out. The move brought a lot of criticism and hate from the English fans. The same resulted in MS Dhoni withdrawing his appeal and calling Ian back to continue the innings. Eventually, Bell managed to score 156 runs while the former Indian captain was awarded the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade for his gesture.

Years after that incident, Ian Bell broke his silence as he asserted that it was his mistake and he shouldn’t have marched back to the pavilion. “Yes, it’s interesting. When I look back to that, I mean, I must have been hungry or something because I literally just belted for the pavilion when I thought it was four if it was either way around, I would have been safe and we would have been fine.”

From 2011 to 2013, those two years really were my peak: Ian Bell

“But yeah, they obviously got Dhoni a ‘Spirit of the Game’ award for the decade or something like that. But yeah [it was] a mistake on my behalf, should never do that,” Ian Bell told The Grade Cricketer’s YouTube channel.

Further in the interaction, Bell also admitted that from 2011 to 2013 he was enjoying his peak. Also, the England team was experiencing a dream run as they were winning both at home and overseas. He picked winning away series in Australia and India, and a Man of the Series performance in the 2013 Ashes as the highlights.

“From 2011 to 2013, those 2 years really [were my peak]. But as a team as well we were winning home and away. We won in Australia and India as well, which is so hard to do in Test cricket. For me, 2013 was a series where I suppose I played at a level I wanted to play at,” signed off Ian Bell.