Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Rules are rules! Obey or go home!' that was published in Newsband

Rules are rules! Obey or go home!

The ICC on Thursday requested the BCCI to have an insignia removed from Indian wicket keeper and former captain M.S. Dhoni’s gloves, citing ICC regulations. His wicket-keeping gloves have become the focus of a raging controversy. It started with Wednesday’s World Cup match at Southampton, where India defeated South Africa by six wickets.

The logo, an Army signage depicting a regimental dagger insignia of the Indian Para Special Forces. The ‘violation’ by Dhoni was twofold. Players are allowed only two logos. His gloves sported three. Secondly, the insignia constituted a political statement.

If the current ICC CWC 2019 is played under the rules of the The International Cricket Council as the global governing body of cricket it stands to reason that all the affiliating members including the BCCI should abide by the governing regulations to a T. There is no point in justifying the patent lapse especially when the player concerned has shown willingness to give up the questionable logo in context of ICC objection.

Rules are rules and why we always look for exceptions? An unnecessary controversy and one where an "innocent" act of sporting a Military Logo in Dhoni's Gloves seems to be taken out of proportions and Politicians also seem to fish in troubled waters. The matter, whatever the BCCI/ICC interventions, would have to be settled by Conventions and Rules/ regulations that apply to all others taking part in world cup matches. If ICC is the "ruling authority" we need to abide by their diktat - which binds BCCI and all Players/Officials etc of all nations too. Let us not become "anti-social" in an international event, where Rules/ Regulations are prescribed by an Authority, and whose authority must be respected.

Some misguided people in India are making a mountain out of a mole hill. Dhoni must remove the insignia or withdraw himself from the game if he loves & respects it more than anything else in his life. Do not create a frenzy of patriotism around it. If the ICC’s regulations limit the number of logos to two, there is no valid reason for the BCCI to ask for a third, especially of one unambiguously of a non-sport area. Dhoni or anyone else, makes no difference to the issue. Rules are meant to follow. Dhoni or Sachin should not be an exception. If they made some rule, there might be reasons behind. What if tomorrow entire Pakistan team comes up with Pak army logo on the back of their jerseys and some fierce comments made between two arrogant players on the baseline of these logos. Till now we had seen verbal war between two players only, these kind of controversies would lead to verbal war between two countries.