If it is India vs Australia at the SCG, controversy cannot be far behind, it appears. At the same venue where, early last month, the most acrimonious Test with far-reaching ramifications had been played out, Mahendra Singh Dhoni found himself at the centre of unwanted attention on Sunday evening.

The issue revolved around the Indian one-day captain's wicket-keeping gloves. To be more specific, around the webbing between the thumb and index finger of his right glove.

A mischievous comment with most probably the intent of triggering controversy by former Australian wicket-keeper Ian Healy set off the chain of events. Dhoni took off to his right to spectacularly hold on to an inside edge and dismiss Adam Gilchrist, the ball lodging in the webbing. Healy immediately voiced his concerns on air about the legality of the gloves, and a little while later, Dhoni changed his gloves, obviously upon instructions from match referee Jeff Crowe.

"It's up to the match referee now," Dhoni said later in the night. "I've been using it (the gloves) for quite some time. It's exactly the replica of the one that I was using in the Test series. That's all I know about. I was told to remove it, and I removed it to avoid any controversy."

The gloves Dhoni has been using since the Melbourne one-dayer against Australia since February 10 were specially manufactured by an Indian sports goods company, and designed by Dhoni himself. A big fan and admirer of the Indian Army, the Jharkhandi had the gloves specially made in camouflage colours; the gloves he used during the Tests were the ones used as specification when the glove in question was made.

After talking to the Indian team management -- after which Dhoni swapped the gloves for a blue one -- Crowe took one of the supposedly offending gloves away for inspection. His verdict is still awaited.

Ponting aware

Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting said he was aware Dhoni had changed gloves. "At one stage he had a white pair on and the next moment, he had a blue one. He changes his gloves a lot and sometimes he uses different gloves when he is standing up or behind the stumps," said Ponting, seeking to maintain a low profile, for once.

Under the MCC laws, the webbing is not allowed to protrude 'beyond the straight line joining the top of the index finger to the top of the thumb.' That being the case, and with match referees supposed to check every piece of cricketing gear to ensure they conform to norms, if Dhoni's gloves did transgress the laws, then wasn't it sheer incompetence on the part of Crowe himself -- with a history of incompetence, given the farcical finish to the World Cup finals when he was in charge -- not to have noticed it until now?

There were verbal altercations involving Harbhajan Singh, and the Aussie duo of Matthew Hayden and Ponting, as well as between Andrew Symonds -- predictably -- and Ishant Sharma after the pacer knocked over the Australian with a slower ball. Fortunately, this game will be remembered less for controversies than for cricket, unlike the Test match last month.