London: Abiding by the ICC’s diktat, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was seen without the Army insignia on his wicketkeeping gloves as he took the field after India posted a mammoth 352/5 against Australia in a marquee World Cup clash at the Kennington Oval here Sunday.
The whole issue started during India’s opening game against South Africa on June 5 when Dhoni once again professed his love for the country’s security forces by sporting the regimental dagger insignia of the Indian Para Special Forces on his wicketkeeping gloves.
Social media went into a tizzy in support of India’s World Cup winning captain and urged he be allowed to wear the same in all of the remaining matches.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) then requested the ICC to allow Dhoni to keep sporting the ‘Balidaan Badge’ but to no avail, as the game’s global governing body stuck to its guns, saying it was a breach of the ICC regulations.
As per the regulations, Dhoni would have been reprimanded if he sported the Army insignia on his keeping gloves on Sunday. The second offence would attract a fine of 25 per cent of the match fee. A third offence would mean 50 per cent fine of the fee and a fourth offence would see the player losing 75 per cent of his match fee. All of this within a span of 12 months.
The BCCI, under the supervision of the Committee of Administrators (CoA), failed to back Dhoni in the Army insignia controversy with CoA chief Vinod Rai stating that they will have to abide by ICC’s ruling.