MS Dhoni Army gloves: BCCI seeks flexibility from ICC; calls it a non-issue

MS Dhoni Army gloves: BCCI looks for flexibility from ICC over Dhoni’s Army insignia gloves; BCCI’s CoA chief calls it a non-issue

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has asked for ‘flexibility’  from the ICC over the  Indian Army’s “Balidan” (sacrifice) badge which was spotted on MS Dhoni’s wicket-keeping gloves during India’s World Cup 2019 opening match against South Africa on June 5.

The Army insignia on Dhoni’s gloves, was explicitly visible when the 37-year old stumped the South African all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo at the Rose Bowl, in Southampton. It is worth mentioning that Dhoni is an honorary lieutenant-colonel in the Parachute Regiment of the Indian Territorial Army, and the dagger is the emblem of the regiment.

The BCCI had earlier backed the former India skipper as the Committee of Administrators (CoA) chief Vinod Rai  had earlier written to the ICC asking them to allow Dhoni to continue sporting the Balidaan Bade as the symbol was neither political or religious.

ICC intervened

The moment the aforementioned images of Dhoni sporting the Army insignia gloves surfaced on the image, the ICC  asked the BCCI to get the insignia badge removed from his gloves. The ICC apparently has a zero tolerance policy against politic and religious messages being worn on any piece by a player at its international event.

The ICC equipment and clothing regulations do not permit the display of messages that relate to political, religious or racial activities or causes during an international match.

Vinod Rai calls it a “non-issue”

The issue took no time to blow up with a scores of people, including former and current Indian Cricketers and reputed journalists coming out on Twitter with #DhoniKeepTheGlove to support the Indian cricketer and back the patriotic move.

While we are on the field, we devote ourselves to our country & we give all we can to make India proud. We all love our country & that’s exactly @msdhoni has done, saluting the sacrifices of our heroes & honouring them. It should be taken as an act of patriotism & not nationalism

— Suresh Raina🇮🇳 (@ImRaina) June 7, 2019

I strongly feel @msdhoni should NOT remove #BalidaanBadge from his gloves 🧤. @BCCI should fight for it. Cricket or Country? Let’s make our priorities clear. Mine is country. Yours?

— Sudhir Chaudhary (@sudhirchaudhary) June 6, 2019

However, the BCCI chief Vinod Rai had called it a “non-issue”, thereby clearly stating that it will for sure seek flexibility from the ICC, but will follow its norms if it indeed conforms to its no-tolerance policy.

“We will play the game by the rules of the ICC in letter and spirit,” Vinod Rai, the told ESPNcricinfo.

“If there is a specific norm that has to be followed, we will not break that norm. However, if there is any flexibility available, we have sought permission for the ICC to allow the player to wear the gloves”, added Rai.

The matter was earlier discussed in the CoA meeting held in Mumbai on Friday, which was attended by Rai’s two other colleagues – Diana Edulji and Ravindra Thodge – as well as the BCCI chief executive officer Rahul Johri.