I am a Dhoni fan but this particular incident was a dick move from him, normally captain gets a 100% fine or worse match ban when they deliberately rig the gameplay.
In the past, many captains faced the consequence and were slapped with the fine for less but he's powerful enough to influence even the match referee.
It isn't an honorable move for sure, but it's not such a big deal either. Honestly, I would have done the same if I were in his position since the pros outweigh the cons in the grand scheme overall.
Also, I read somewhere that the worst that the umpires could do was to give Dhoni a warning since it was his first offence in the match. Smart move by a uber-cool captain!
Result? They went on to win the qualifier 1 and final and became 5 time champs. A small sacrifice for the greater good basically.
The point is if it was done by someone else then they would have faced the consequences (at least some match fee) and real bashing from the commentators but no one on the comm even dared to utter serious remarks except Simon Doul.