Peeved ICC chief leaves MCG before end of final

ICC PRESIDENT ‘IGNORED’ AT PRESENTATION CEREMONY

Melbourne, March 29: Peeved at not being given the opportunity to hand out the World Cup trophy to the champions, International Cricket Council president Mustafa Kamal left the Melbourne Cricket Ground even before the final between Australia and New Zealand had finished on Sunday.

It was ICC chairman N. Srinivasan who handed the World Cup to Michael Clarke, the captain of winning team Australia.

Brand Ambassador Sachin Tendulkar, ICC CEO Dave Richardson and Cricket Australia supremo Wally Edwards shared the dais with the Tamil Nadu strongman.

Kamal was reportedly told at an ICC meeting here on Saturday that he won’t be allowed to hand over the trophy.

Kamal had voiced his concerns about “umpiring bias”, which led to Rohit Sharma being given not out to Bangladesh’s Rubel Hossain delivery which apparently looked a “touch and go” decision, during the teams’ quarterfinal clash. It was ICC chairman N. Srinivasan and not ICC president Mustafa Kamal who handed over the glittering World Cup trophy to the Australian team.

Apparently, this has surprised quite a few former ICC presidents, who in the past had got the opportunity to hand over the trophy to the winning team.

“It (not handing over the trophy by an ICC president) was surprising but that’s how it goes...,” former ICC chief Malcolm Gray said.

“It is surprising and interesting,” Ehsan Mani, Kamal, who is the also the Bangladesh Cricket Board president, had accused India of flexing their muscles in order to influence umpiring decisions.

Srinivasan was reportedly displeased with Kamal’s views. the former ICC chief said from Lahore.

Speaking exclusively, another former world body head David Morgan, said, “The trophy is always being handed over by the ICC president. I am not aware and cannot imagine what arrangements were made today. Perhaps, Srinivasan, being a senior man may have opted to do so.”

Bangladesh Cricket Board chief Nazmul Hassan Pappn was aware of the “development”.

“I came to know last night that the ICC chairman will hand over the trophy to the winning team,” he said.

Kamal didn’t sit in the ICC hospitality box during final and after talking to an elite group of people in the Bangladesh government (he is a Union minister also), he decided to leave the venue as he felt that it was an insult to his position.— PTI