There was unanimity in the team meeting over Bell, says Dravid

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Rahul Dravid on Sunday said that the decision to call back England's Ian Bell after the batsman was controversially given run out on day three of the second Test between the two sides here, was taken keeping in mind the spirit of the game.

"There was unanimity in the team meeting at tea and it was taken keeping in with the spirit of the game," Dravid said after the day's play.

"If we go strictly by the rules he was out. These things are all a matter of conjecture," he added.

The incident happened when Bell, after completing the third run on the final ball before the tea break assumed that the ball had crossed the boundary and walked off the crease.

But Praveen Kumar made a diving effort and threw the ball at Abhinav Mukund who clipped the bails at the striker's end.

The Indians appealed and the batsman was given out after replays has shown that the ball had not crossed the boundary.

But, in a rare gesture, India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni withdrew his appeal against Bell at the tea break, and he was allowed to bat again.

Talking about Indian bowlers' performance in the match, Dravid said: "They really tried their best. England bat deep, they have a great advantage of batting deep. And once the bowlers get tired, great batsmen cash in."

Ian Bell admits that by ‘the letter of the law’ he should have been given out after a bizarre run out off the last ball before tea on the third day of the second Test against India.

Bell later admitted that he made a mistake in assuming that the ball was dead and walking out of his crease, but believed that the right decision was made in the end.

He also revealed that he didn't learn of his reprieve until the umpires were taking to the field after the interval.