M S Dhoni
Surjeet Yadav/IANS

A Pakistan minister has called out cricket star Mahendra Singh Dhoni after he sported wicket-keeping gloves with the regimental dagger insignia of the Indian Army's para forces. The gloves were seen during the World Cup match between India and South Africa on Wednesday.

Pakistan's Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chowdhry took to Twitter to express his displeasure on the insignia on Dhoni's gloves. He wrote, "Dhoni is in England to play cricket not to for MahaBharta, what an idiotic debate in Indian Media, a section of Indian media is so obsessed with War they should be sent to Syria, Afghanistan Or Rawanda as mercenaries."

The International Cricket Council has also asked the BCCI to remove the insignia from the gloves since only the manufacturer's sign is allowed to feature on them. The ICC ruling states that "equipment and clothing regulations do not permit the display of messages that relate to political, religious or racial activities or causes during an international match."

ICC General Manager Claire Furlong was quoted as saying by India Today that they requested BCCI on Thursday to remove the symbol from Dhoni's gloves.

The symbol on the gloves is the Balidaan Badge of the Indian Army's para forces. The symbol consists of a commando dagger pointing downwards. Wings extend upwards from the dagger and a scroll is superimposed on the blade. The words Balidan in Devanagari script is written in the scroll.

While Dhoni was directed to remove the symbol, many fans showed their support to the former Indian captain and began a social media campaign with the hashtag #DhoniKeepTheGlove.