Gilchrist comes in support of Dhoni on 'gloves'

Melbourne, Feb 28 (UNI) As Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's wicketkeeping gloves failed to match the ICC's regulation, Adam Gichrist has come in support of his Indian counterpart saying, ''he (Dhoni) hasn't intentionally done that.'' ''I don't think they were glaringly obvious to be different to what I use or anyone else at the moment or what is legal at the moment,'' Gilchrist said.

''But they were just a bit too big. And it was an outstanding catch.'' Dhoni pulled off an outstanding diving catch to dismiss Gilchrist in the Sydney match which India lost by 18 runs.

It was later reported by the match referee Jeff Crowe that the wicketkeeping gloves that Dhoni was wearing in that match were illegal and did not match the ICC's regulations.

His gloves were found to have extra webbing between the thumb and the forefinger and was asked during Sunday's game to switch to a different pair.

In the last decade ICC has altered the amount of webbing allowed in the wicketkeeping gloves.

''The guy that makes [Dhoni's] gloves makes my gloves as well,'' he said.

''Not for a moment am I insinuating that MS Dhoni intentionally wore them out there. Whether it's a manufacturing error I'm not sure. I know the gentleman that makes them and he's the best in the world, they're brilliant.

''Maybe just in the manufacturing process - they're all hand-made and hand-stitched - so they may have just used a little bit too much leather in that area,'' he added.

Dhoni was not penalised for wearing those gloves by the ICC and Gilchrist said, ''it was the appropriate result.'' ''They're nothing like what we were wearing when I first started my career,'' he said.

''We were wearing gloves that were almost like a baseball mitt.

They were getting out of hand and the ones that Dhoni used the other day were nothing like that. I have absolutely no doubt that he hasn't intentionally done that.'' UNI XC RAR MP PM1137