Former India skipper Ravi Shastri did not appreciate the decision to recall England's Ian Bell after being adjudged run out in the second Test at Trent Bridge on Sunday.

"I maintain that this is a battle. If I were in Dhoni's position, I would not have called Bell back. If he doesn't know rules, it's his problem. He was out. End of it," Shastri told MiD DAY yesterday.


Ravi Shastri

Having completed three runs with Eoin Morgan after Praveen Kumar's misfield, Bell headed off the field believing the ball had gone for four and was consequently "dead". In fact, it was still "live" and a stunned Bell was eventually given out on the last ball before tea interval on 137. Bell went on to make 159.

Sunil Gavaskar said India got carried away with the incident. "I want to congratulate Dhoni for showing other captains what is the spirit of cricket.

"But we shouldn't have got carried away with that incident because we did not do well with the bowling," he said.

However, former India captain Sourav Ganguly came out in support of the Indian skipper. "Dhoni did the right thing. Nobody's intention was bad in this case. Everyone thought that it was tea break. Everyone thought that the ball had touched the rope. Bell also didn't try to steal a single," said Ganguly.u00a0