India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has insisted his side had been right to complain about the conduct of England’s James Anderson.

Seamer Anderson was charged by the International Cricket Council on Tuesday for allegedly “abusing and pushing” India’s Ravindra Jadeja during last week’s drawn first Test at Trent Bridge.

If the charge is upheld, Anderson could be banned for as many as four Tests and England have responded by levelling a charge of their own against Jadeja.

England captain Alastair Cook suggested at a pre-match press conference at Lord’s, ahead of Thursday’s second Test, that India’s complaint had been a deliberate tactic to get Anderson banned from the rest of the five-match series.

However, Dhoni – speaking later at Lord’s – said: “We felt what happened was wrong so we went ahead with the charges.

“It’s not something that we have done. Let’s realise the fact.

“Frankly, usually we have been on the receiving end a lot of times where somebody starts something and we retaliate and we get fined or different kinds of offences are levelled against us,” added Dhoni of an India coached by former England boss Duncan Fletcher.

Earlier on Wednesday, Cook accused India of making a “mountain out of a molehill” in an effort to try to get Anderson banned.

“I think so, I think that’s pretty much where it’s come from,” Cook said. “It’s probably a little bit of a tactic by India.

“For Jimmy, all the lads will rally round him. He’s a stalwart of our side.”

Cook added he believed completely the version of events that Anderson had told him but that, under ICC regulations, he could not reveal the conversation.

The incident involving Anderson and Jadeja is said to have happened after the players left the field for lunch on Thursday’s second day when the Indian was batting and taken place as the teams entered the narrow corridor of the Trent Bridge pavilion.

The ICC said Tuesday a disciplinary hearing under a judicial commissioner would be held “as soon as reasonably practicable”.

However, Anderson is unlikely to miss either the second Test, or indeed next week’s third of the five-match series in Southampton, because any hearing will probably not take place before then.