'Dhoni gloves illegal'
By OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Hobart, Feb. 25: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has agreed not to use the wicketkeeping gloves he wore at the start of the innings against Australia in Sydney on Sunday after they were found to be in breach of the laws of cricket by the International Cricket Council.
The two on-field umpires, Daryl Harper and Tony Hill, third umpire Bruce Oxenford and match referee Jeff Crowe gave the ruling after inspecting Dhoni's gloves following Australia's 18-run victory in a high-scoring thriller.
Explaining the ruling, Crowe said: "After I raised my concern in the India dressing room, Dhoni immediately changed his gloves on the advice of the India team management which was a reasonable thing to do. 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 the Laws of Cricket."
"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," Crowe added.
Match officials found Dhoni's gloves had extra webbing between the thumb and the forefinger which was a violation of Law 40.2, which relates to gloves and reads as follows: "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.
"The webbing of the gloves shall not have any reinforcement or tucks whatsoever."