Was Dhoni acting at behest of ex-BCCI chief?

LONDON: Former India captain MS Dhoni backed off on Sunday when he complied with International Cricket Council (ICC) orders and wore a new pair of wicket-keeping gloves during India’s World Cup game here at The Oval.

Dhoni ignited a controversy last week when he wore wicket-keeping gloves with Indian military insignia printed on them in India’s World Cup game against South Africa on June 5. His breach was caught on the TV cameras forcing the ICC to issue him a stern warning.

The Indian cricket board (BCCI) tried to convince the ICC to reconsider its stance and allow Dhoni to keep wearing the gloves with military insignia but the game’s ruling body refused to budge. It made it clear that Dhoni will have to bear the consequences if he continued to wear the controversial gloves.

There was huge support for Dhoni back home in India but the veteran opted against confronting the ICC and took the field against Australia in the second innings of Sunday’s game wearing different gloves.

If he had opted to defy the ICC, Dhoni could have faced a fine and demerit points slapped by the ICC which had made it clear that Dhoni had breached two regulations: one relating to display of “personal messages”, and the other concerning the logo on his glove.

While the BCCI kept supporting Dhoni during the entire episode, sources told ‘The News’ there is a big possibility that the former Indian captain was just a pawn in a power struggle within the Indian cricket establishment.

Well-placed sources suggested that Dhoni could have pulled off the gloves stunt at the behest of former BCCI chief N Srinivasan in order to embarrass the current ICC chairman Shashank Manohar.

According to the sources, Srinivasan, who is thought to be very close to Dhoni, is yet to accept his ouster as BCCI chief by Manohar. “Srinivasan could be using Dhoni to settle scores with Manohar,” said a source. It is an open secret that Dhoni has close ties with Srinivasan, who owns Dhoni’s IPL team – the Chennai Superkings.