Uthappa and Karthik disallowed to keep with one glove

On Friday, Karnataka captain and wicketkeeper Robin Uthappa was engaged in a lengthy talk with umpire Anil Chaudhary during the last over of the Baroda innings. The discussion was over Uthappa removing his glove and keeping wickets.

Uthappa’s idea of keeping without a glove on his throwing arm was to facilitate him to throw the ball at the wickets quicker.
On Saturday, a similar argument happened with the same umpire, though the wicketkeeper in question was Tamil Nadu’s Dinesh Karthik, in the last over against Mumbai.

Both Uthappa and Karthik removed the glove and tucked it into their trousers. However, umpire Chaudhary did not allow them to do so. Both eventually gave in and had to keep with their full equipment in place.

As per the Law 40 (The wicket-keeper), “The wicket-keeper is the only fielder permitted to wear gloves and external leg guards.”

The word ‘permitted’ indicates it is the wicket-keeper’s wish to wear or not to wear, and what to wear. Also, if he was not wearing the glove, he cannot keep it on the ground as only helmets are allowed to be kept on the ground. Both Karthik and Uthappa were right by the laws.

Umpires being “the sole judges of fair and unfair play” were also not wrong in disallowing Uthappa and Karthik from keeping without the glove.

An official, who did not wish to be named, said: “These instances have been the bone of contention, of late. These things have been happening regularly in domestic cricket, especially in T20. The matter should be referred to the BCCI to arrive at a consensus.”

Some umpires, however, have allowed ‘keepers to field without gloves. It has also happened in an international last December when New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum kept without his leg guards on, though it was for a brief while.