2-match ban on Dhoni

MS Dhoni, India's captain, has been banned for two ODIs because India maintained slow over-rate during the second match against Sri Lanka in Nagpur. The penalty is more severe than the usual monetary fines because India were found to be three overs short, which comes under the "serious over-rate offence" category. The ban is effective immediately, which means Dhoni will be unavailable for the games in Cuttack and Kolkata, returning only for the final ODI in Delhi. Virender Sehwag will captain the side in his absence.
Falling short by up to two overs in an ODI, and five in a Test day, is considered a "minor offence", and merits a ban only if the offence is repeated twice in 12 months. On Friday night, though, India finished their 50 overs about 45 minutes after the scheduled finish. That just about pushed it too far, and match referee Jeff Crowe had no choice but to impose a ban. If India repeat a serious over-rate offence in any form of the game within the next 12 months, Dhoni could earn himself a ban of two to eight ODIs or one to four Tests.
Dhoni had been informed of the ban verbally, BCCI vice president Rajiv Shukla confirmed. The rest of the Indian players were fined 40 percent of their match fee for the offence -- 10 percent each for the first two overs of minor offence and 20 percent each for every subsequent over.
"We have received information that the match referee has put a two-ODI ban on Dhoni for slow over-rate," Ratnakar Shetty, BCCI's chief administrative officer, said. "We are waiting for a formal communication on this. We will look into details and then make further comments."
Earlier on the tour, Kumar Sangakkara too came close to getting banned when Sri Lanka were found to be two overs short during the second Twenty20 international in Mohali. Sangakkara was fined 40 percent of his match fee while the rest of the team was docked 20 percent each, but Crowe said Sangakkara escaped a much bigger penalty. "Kumar was kept informed throughout the match by the on-field umpires of where his team was with its over-rate," Crowe said. "Under the revised code of conduct, Sri Lanka was very close to being three overs behind and charged for a Serious Over Rate Offence which would have resulted in its captain being suspended in the next two ODIs." Within the next 12 months, Sri Lanka can afford to repeat this minor offence once. Third strike, and Sangakkara will be out for a game.