James Anderson would be heaving a sigh of relief. Dhoni would be fuming. One verdict, two reactions. While the hearing conducted by International Cricket Council judicial commissioner Gordon Lewis arrived at the decision that both the players weren’t guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct, many people (read: Indians) aren’t exactly elated with the verdict.
The England team must be the most relieved. Had Anderson been found guilty, he would have, for sure, missed the whole of the remaining part of the series. This, in turn, would have hurt their chances of flashing the victory symbol at the end of the series and hurt it real bad. However, now that he’s missed that truck by a whisker, he would be raring to go and the English camp must be gung ho about utilising his services to their maximum best.
Cut to the Indian camp. It must be looking pretty frustrated, with a sense of injustice overshadowing every other emotion. While Dhoni went out of his skin to support his offended player, even defying Big Boss Srinivasan’s ‘request’ to not appeal against the English pacer, the verdict didn’t quite live up to all the efforts put in.  To add insult to injury, British tabloids and other forms of media seem to be having a ball rubbing salt onto Dhoni’s bruises. Leading British newspapers spoke of the ‘humiliation’ that Dhoni faces post the clean chit given to Anderson.
A quick recap of the entire pushgate incident and we clearly remember that it was the Indian team that insisted on taking the trial and hearing ahead. Even when the England camp protested and brushed the incident under the carpet, the Indian management said it had video evidence of the fact that Anderson had instigated Jadeja and verbally and physically abused the Indian. Assuming shades of racial abuse, the matter escalated quickly and painted both the second and third Tests in the colours of the tiff.
With Dhoni going against Srinivasan and standing by his player, the verdict, for sure, would have disappointed the entire Indian camp in general and the captain in particular.
Nevertheless, now that the verdict is out of the way, let’s hope both the teams put this incident behind and focus more on the stuff that matters — cricket and more importantly, good cricket.