By IANS
Dubai : Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni just about managed to escape a penalty after he promised the match referee that he will not use the wicket-keeping gloves that breach International Cricket Council (ICC) specifications.
The on-field umpires, Daryl Harper and Tony Hill reported the matter to match referee Jeff Crowe during Sunday’s tri-series match against Australia following which he ordered the inspection of Dhoni’s gloves.
Crowe said the Indian skipper has escaped the penalty on this occasion and had been let go with an advice.
“Dhoni has not been penalised on this occasion but he has been advised that if he uses the gloves again before they have been modified, inspected and cleared, he could be charged for a breach of Clause C1 of the Code of Conduct,” said the former New Zealand batsman.
After the inspection, the match officials found the Indian skipper’s keeping gloves have extra webbing between the thumb and the forefinger, which was a violation of ICC’s Law 40.2, relating to gloves usage rules that states:
“The wicketkeeper’s gloves shall have no webbing between the fingers except joining index finger and thumb, where webbing may be inserted as a means of support.”
“After I raised my concern in the Indian dressing room, Dhoni immediately changed his gloves on the advice of the team management, which was a reasonable thing to do,” Crowe said.
“These gloves were then inspected after the match by the third umpire, myself and later by the two on-field umpires. The three umpires ruled that the gloves were in breach of Laws of Cricket.”
Dhoni took a spectacular one-handed catch of Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist in the Australian innings. Concerns about the gloves were raised on air by Channel Nine commentators, former Australia stumper Ian Healy and ex-captain Ian Chappell.
The ball lodged inside the gloves’ webbing between the thumb and index finger.
In his post-match conference, Dhoni when asked about the gloves controversy had said, “I have been using them (gloves) for quite some time. They are the exact replica of what I have been using throughout this tournament. I changed the gloves because I thought there is no point in raising a controversy.”