Gilchrist backs Dhoni on gloves

Adam Gilchrist has jumped to the defence of his Indian wicketkeeping counterpart Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was found to have worn illegal gloves during the match against Australia on Sunday. Gilchrist said there were no hard feelings after he fell to a diving catch from Dhoni, whose gloves had webbing that did not meet the ICC regulations.

"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."

A new regulation was brought in within the past decade which altered the amount of webbing that was allowable. Dhoni's supplier also provides Gilchrist with his gloves, and Gilchrist said he liked to have match referees check the legality of his equipment at least once a season.

"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."

Dhoni's gloves were found to have extra webbing between the thumb and the forefinger and the match referee Jeff Crowe asked him during Sunday's game to switch to a different pair. Dhoni was not given a penalty by the ICC and Gilchrist said that 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."