India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has agreed not to use the wicketkeeping gloves he wore at the start of the the 10th one-day international of the CB tri-series against Australia in Sydney on Sunday after they were found to be in breach of the Laws of Cricket.
The two on-field umpires, Daryl Harper of the Emirates Elite Panel of Umpires and Tony Hill of the Emirates International Panel, third umpire Bruce Oxenford and Jeff Crowe of the ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees gave the ruling after inspecting Dhoni's gloves following Australia's 18-run victory in a high-scoring thriller.
The 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. If used, the webbing shall be:
a) a single piece of non-stretch materal, which, although it may have facing material attached, shall have no reinforcement or tucks.
b) Such that the top edge of the webbing
i) does not protrude beyond the straight line joining the top of the index finger to the top of the thumb
ii) is taut when a hand wearing the glove has the thumb fully extended."
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 Laws of Cricket.
"Dhoni has not been penalized 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 Crowe.
