ICC ‘requests’ BCCI to remove Indian army insignia from Dhoni's gloves: Indian media
June 06, 2019
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has requested the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for removal of an Indian army badge (insignia) from former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s gloves, Indian media reported on Thursday.
The army insignia ‘Balidaan Badge’ was seen on the wicket keeper’s gloves during India’s World Cup opener. “We have requested the BCCI to get it removed,” ICC's Strategic Communications General Manager Claire Furlong told an Indian private media channel.
Former information minister Fawad Chaudhry and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) demanded the cricket’s governing body to take action against the move.
The BCCI was slammed widely, earlier, for mixing politics with sports as Dhoni, who is an honorary lieutenant colonel in the Indian territorial army, had distributed the camouflage caps to the Indian team before their match against Australia.
The PCB taking strong notice of the move, urged the ICC to take action against the BCCI.
"We have strongly taken up the matter with the ICC," PCB chairman Ehsan Mani told reporters in Karachi earlier this week. "There is absolutely no misunderstanding in the ICC about our position. We believe that cricket and sports should not be used for politics and we have said this very clearly. Their [India] credibility in the cricketing world has gone down very badly."
The PCB chief cited a couple of examples from the past: England all-rounder Moeen Ali, who was banned in 2014 for wearing wristbands bearing the slogans 'Save Gaza' and 'Free Palestine' on the first two days of the third Test against India at The Ageas Bowl.
In early 2017, South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir was reprimanded by the ICC for his celebrations during a T20I against Sri Lanka. He was seen to be wearing a T-shirt under his kit with an image of Pakistani pop star-turned-religious preacher Junaid Jamshed who had died in a plane crash.
