MS DHONI PLAYS HOOKEY

The print media boycotted Mahendra Singh Dhoni's postmatch media conference after the Indian captain kept the press waiting for over an hour after India's eight-wicket loss to Sri Lanka last weekend. During this period, Dhoni was seen playing football with the members of the Indian team at the Rangiri Stadium.

According to the ICC procedure, the two captains should address the media within half-hour of the prize distribution ceremony. Indian team manager Ranjeeb Biswal, who was also playing soccer as a goalkeeper, told media persons over phone at about 8.20 pm: "We have time till 10.15 pm (when the match was supposed to be over officially). Dhoni will be there in five minutes."

WADA, YADA, YADA...

About a year back, Dhoni & Co rejected the contentious Whereabouts Clause in the amended World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) code as they thought it was "unreasonable".

Backing its players, BCCI refused to toe the WADA line because it felt that the clause infringed on the players' privacy.

The ICC promised to look into it. WADA pushed its luck again when they asked the ICC to convince its member boards to accept the clause by November 2009 but it didn't materialise. The matter is more or less resolved with the ICC approving revised rules from WADA and BCCI expressing its satisfaction.

MONKEYGATE AND STEVE BUCKNOR

In 2008 Sydney Test, Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds accused Harbhajan Singh of racial insult. The match referee Mike Procter handed the off-spinner a three-Test ban which was challenged by the BCCI.

The Indian board chartered a plane to take its players back home if the appeals court didn't rule in Singh's favour. In the same Test, BCCI also complained to the ICC about poor umpiring by Steve Bucknor and asked for his removal.

Eventually, Justice John Hansen cleared Harbhajan of the racism charge and instead charged him with abuse and insult - to which the spinner pleaded guilty and was fined 50 per cent of his match fees. Bucknor was sacked from the Perth Test.

DENNESS THE MENACE

The 2001 Summer Spice Series between South Africa and India turned messy when the ICC Match Referee Mike Denness, at the conclusion of the second Test, found six Indian players guilty of various offences: Sachin Tendulkar of acting on the ball while bowling on the third day of the Test, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh Shiv Sundar Das and Deep Dasgupta for excessive appealing and skipper Sourav Ganguly for his inability to control his players' behaviour.

When asked the five Ws and H about the incident at a subsequent press conference, Denness refused to elaborate on his decisions.

The BCCI, then headed by Jagmohan Dalmiya, threatened to pull out of the tour unless Denness was removed as match referee. The ICC initially didn't accede to the BCCI's request but later declared the third Test as "unofficial" and classified it as a "friendly five-day match".