'Lack of respect shown for the spirit of cricket - Daryl Harper on MS Dhoni pausing the play during Qualifier 1 against GT

Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni has been criticized by former ICC umpire Daryl Harper for not respecting the spirit of the game during IPL 2023 Qualifier 1 against Gujarat Titans on Tuesday, May 23 at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

During the second innings of the match, Dhoni had an argument with the umpires ahead of the 16^th over of the innings. CSK seamer Matheesha Pathirana was out of the field for a few minutes and hence was not allowed to immediately come to bowl after returning to the field. According to the rules, any player who’s been off the field for over eight minutes has to spend the same amount of time on the field before coming in to bowl.

However, Dhoni wanted to bring the Sri Lankan seamer back into the attack just after five minutes of his return and got into an argument with the on-field umpires, which looked like he tried to eat up time. Following the incident, Dhoni was criticized by Daryl Harper for showing lack of respect towards the Spirit of the Game and for the on-field umpires.

"Of course MS Dhoni wasted time to allow his preferred bowling option to deliver the vital sixteenth over. That's the only conclusion that I can draw from that disappointing spectacle. The issue for me is the lack of respect shown for the Spirit of cricket and for the directions of the umpires. There were other options for the captain but they were ignored,” Harper was quoted as saying by MyKhel.

Disappointing to see the lengths that some people will go to in order to win: Daryl Harper

The 71-year-old further said that maybe some people are bigger than the law and it was disappointing to see that people will do anything to win. 

“Maybe some people are bigger than the law or in this case the Spirit of cricket. It's always disappointing to see the lengths that some people will go to in order to win," the former Australian umpire added.

Coming back to the match, CSK entered the IPL 2023 final by beating Gujarat Titans by 15 runs and will play the final on May 28 in Ahmedabad. After being put in to bat, CSK posted 172/7 courtesy of a brilliant knock from Ruturaj Gaikwad (60 off 44). In reply, GT were bowled out for 157 as collective efforts from all the CSK bowlers helped the side reach their 10th IPL final.