Cricket-Gloves off for Indian captain Dhoni

By Julian Linden

SYDNEY, Feb 25 (Reuters) - India's one-day captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has escaped punishment despite being caught using illegal wicketkeeping gloves during Sunday's tri-series match against Australia in Sydney.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) ruled that Dhoni's gloves were in breach of the rules because they had extra webbing between the thumb and forefinger.

Dhoni was ordered to hand over his gloves to the ICC for inspection after the extra webbing was spotted by television commentators shortly after he pulled off a spectacular diving catch to dismiss Adam Gilchrist.

Dhoni later told a news conference after the match that he was unaware that the gloves were illegal but agreed to swap them as soon as the ICC informed him there might be a problem.

"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," the ICC's match referee Jeff Crowe said in a statement.

"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 penalised 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." (Editing by John O'Brien)