World Cup 2019: ICC rejects BCCI’s plea to let MS Dhoni have the army insignia on his gloves

What’s the story?

The International Cricket Council has turned down BCCI’s plea to let MS Dhoni keep the insignia on the gloves, instructing the board to get it removed.

In case you didn’t know…

In response to the ICC’s instruction to get the army insignia removed from the gloves of MS Dhoni, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had requested the ICC to let MS keep it on his gloves as it wasn’t the paramilitary regimental dagger that was embossed in his gloves.

The heart of the matter

Turning down BCCI’s appeal, the ICC has confirmed that the logo that was on the veteran keeper’s gloves was not permitted under the regulations of the council. Therefore, the BCCI will have to ask Dhoni to use a different pair of gloves in the following matches, or to cover the logo altogether.

The official media release from ICC

In their plea, BCCI had sought the permission to let Dhoni keep the logo on his wicketkeeping gloves, saying that it did not resemble the paramilitary dagger. The Committee of Administrators (CoA) chief, Vinod Rai had also said that MS was not at fault, because it Dhoni's move was not motivated by any commercial or religious gain.

Rai told PTI, “The BCCI had already sent a formal request to the ICC for clearance. As per ICC regulations, players can’t sport any commercial, religious or military logo. There was nothing commercial or religious in this regard as we all know.”

ICC has responded to the BCCI to confirm the logo displayed by MS Dhoni in the previous match (India's match against South Africa on June 5) is not permitted to be worn on his wicket-keeping gloves at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019. pic.twitter.com/lLygzCzr5r

— ANI (@ANI) June 7, 2019

What’s next?

BCCI will have to instruct MS to get the required changes done to his equipment before the next match on the 9th of June, wherein, India will be taking on Australia in their second match of the tournament.