Even though the ball was still in play, Bell had begun his walk back to the pavilion for the tea break even as the alert Indians took the bails off to catch him by surprise. After the on-field umpires referred the decision to the third umpire, the right-hander was declared out and when the same was flashed on the giant screen at the stadium, the crowd started booing the Indian players. During the break, however, India decided to withdraw the appeal and Bell was recalled.
“A small incident in the West Indies left a little bit of bitter taste in our stomachs,” Dravid said, referring to the stumping of Laxman off Shivnarine Chanderpaul on India’s recent tour to the Caribbean. “So if the tables were turned, I don’t think our guys would have felt nice about it. If it was Laxman or Sachin (Tendulkar) there, I don't think our guys would have felt nice about it. And that was one of the things discussed when we first came in -- what if it was one of our guys? Would we have liked it? And the general feeling was no,” he elaborated.
Dravid didn’t sympathise with Bell when pointed out that the batsman got ‘tricked’ by the fielder’s body language which appeared to suggest that it was a four and hence the ball was not in play.
“I guess the fielder’s body language suggested it had gone for four,” said Bell in his defence. “I had sort of come back and touched down for the third run. I turned around and Asad (Rauf) had pulled out his jumper and was heading towards the bowler to hand him his jumper. My initial reaction there, perhaps naive, was to say well done to Morgs (Eoin Morgan) and walk off for tea. I was certainly not attempting a run, I just thought that everything was meandering off for tea.”
Dravid, however, found no merit in Bell’s ‘argument’. “If the fielder gives up on the ball, it doesn't mean you immediately assume that it’s four runs,” he pointed out. “We can accept the fact that he wasn’t attempting the run, but you can’t blame Praveen Kumar for walking slowly. He can do what he wants. We accept that it was tea time and Bell was looking to go to tea.”