Stats: Players who have conceded penalties most times in International cricket

MS Dhoni’s art of deflecting the ball on to the stumps without even looking in that direction has often produced some gems and has proved to be turning points in a few games but in the Champions Trophy semi-final against Bangladesh, his act cost India 5 runs. In the 40th over of the Bangladesh innings, Dhoni tried to repeat his special as the Bangladeshi batsmen were trying to run for a second run but the ball missed the stumps and rolled onto the pitch where he dropped one of his gloves.

According to the rules, if the ball comes in contact with any protective gear of the fielder which isn’t a part of their body, the 5 penalty runs will be awarded to the batting side. This is pretty well-known in case the ball hits the helmet behind the keeper.

In fact, this wasn’t the first time Dhoni has conceded 5 penalty runs in International cricket. Such instances have happened 4 times, all of those when he failed to collect the ball and it went on to hit the helmet kept behind. In International cricket, only India’s Parthiv Patel has conceded as many penalties as Dhoni.

South Africa’s Mark Boucher and Australia’s Brad Haddin have all conceded penalties on 4 different occasions. Except the one involving Dhoni in the Champions Trophy game, the other 16 instances of these 4 players giving away penalty runs were recorded in Test matches. Parthiv could have rewarded the 6th penalty on his behalf last year in the England Test but it was a throw from fielder which hit the helmet and costed 5 runs for them. He conceded penalties in 4 different games but in the Chennai Test in 2004 vs Australia, Parthiv failed to collect and stop the ball before touching the helmet twice.

Among these players, only Dhoni and Brad Haddin had an instance where the ball hit their glove which wasn’t on their hands. Haddin, in fact, tried to stop the ball by throwing his glove in 2008 Test vs India which broke the rules and cost his side 5 runs.

Players who conceded penalty runs most times in International cricket:

(Stats as on June 15th, 2017)