Dhoni said no to settling Shovegate issue with ECB

With the dust around the ugly Jimmy Anderson-Ravindra Jadeja 'shovegate' incident settling, reports have emerged that India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni had refused to let things calm down and prevented team manager Sunil Dev from reaching a settlement with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

The report also added: "On the day before last month's second India-England Test match at Lord's, an amicable solution to the fractious situation was proposed to both the ECB and Dev. The Indian side had accused Anderson of pushing the Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja on the second day of the first Test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. The ECB countered this by charging Jadeja of a Level 2 offence for behaving in a provocative manner towards Anderson.

"Significantly, the ECB never denied that an incident had occurred. It, however, described it as a minor matter and accused Jadeja of starting the quarrel in the first place.

"More importantly, an offer of mediation was accepted by both Downton and Dev. It was arranged the two would meet at the ECB office at Lord's midway through the first session of play on the opening day of the second Test. As the Indians were setting off from their hotel to the ground, though, Dev discussed the matter with Dhoni, who debarred the manager from holding any talks.

"It is now disclosed that the agenda for the Downton-Dev talks would have been to examine a six-point formula to resolve the dispute. This consisted of:

"a) Anderson issuing a suitable statement;b) Jadeja issuing a statement accepting Anderson's statement;c) the two publicly shaking hands to close the matter;d) the Indian side withdrawing their charge against Anderson;e) the ECB withdrawing their charge against Jadeja;f) the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and ECB issuing a joint statement explaining that the matter had been sorted out in order to uphold the spirit of cricket."