By Neena Bhandari, IANS
Sydney : India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was asked by umpires to change his wicket-keeping gloves in a one-dayer against Australia here Sunday as they had webbing that did not conform to the rules.
Concerns were raised on air by Channel Nine commentators, former Australia stumper Ian Healy and ex-captain Ian Chappell, after Dhoni took a spectacular one-handed catch of his Australian counterpart Adam Gilchrist for 16 early in the Australian innings in the Commonwealth Bank Triangular Series.
The ball lodged inside the gloves’ webbing between the thumb and index finger.
According to the legal specifications, a wicketkeeper’s gloves should have no webbing between the fingers except joining index finger and thumb, where webbing may be inserted as a means of support. However, it should not protrude beyond the straight line joining the top of the index finger to the top of the thumb.
Match referee Jeff Crowe is understood to have taken one of the gloves for further inspection and Dhoni changed his gloves during a break in the Australian innings.
Initially, Dhoni was wearing white gloves and later he switched to blue ones.
Australia recovered from Gilchrist’s early dismissal to post 317 for seven wickets in 50 overs, with captain Ricky Ponting registering his 26th century.
Australia are, however, already assured of a place in the best-of-three finals to be played next month.