Saturday, March 21, 2015

ICC Prez 'Mustafa Kamal' To Be 'Sacked' For 'Cheap Rant'

The motormouth, Bangaladeshi International Cricket Council (ICC) President, AHM Mustafa Kamal will pay dearly for his cheap rant against umpires Aleem Dar and Ian Gould after the quarterfinal between India and Bangladesh at the MCG, recently.

INNLIVE can confirm that the top brass of the game's governing body is very upset with the Bangladeshi, whose position is merely ceremonial. In fact, Kamal should consider himself lucky that he hasn't been thrown out yet.

Kamal, who is Bangladesh's minister of planning, caused uproar by alleging that the on-field umpires did not overturn the controversial no-ball that allowed India opener Rohit Sharma to go on and make a century because "they came with an agenda".

Sharma, who was on 91 then, made 137 as India posted 302/6 after electing to bat. Bangladesh were bowled out for 193.

"From what I have seen, the umpiring was very poor," Kamal told touring journalists. "There was no quality in the umpiring. It seemed as if they had gone into the match with something in mind. I am speaking as a fan, not as the ICC president. Umpires may make mistakes. The ICC will see if this was done deliberately. Everything is on record. The ICC has to investigate and inquire the issue to see if there's anything to it."

The ICC, which is controlled — operationally, financially and otherwise — by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the England and Wales Cricket Board and Cricket Australia, will not spare Kamal for his unsubstantiated comments.

An influential official told this newspaper that Kamal can act like a "third-rate politician" in his home country. "This is not a mofussil body. When he represents a global body like the ICC, he must think before he speaks. He will get the boot in his back. And he will not get a chance to reconcile," the official said.

Slamming the former Bangladesh Cricket Board president for bringing the game and its umpires into disrepute, the official said, "The guy lacks common sense. But the best way to deal with a person like him is to ignore him completely. You don't need a hammer to swat a fly. Kamal is just too insignificant. All we need to do is pass a resolution and he will be out of the ICC. We can do it right now over the phone. How dare he question the integrity of our umpires?" the official fumed.

ICC chief executive David Richardson issued a statement on Friday night. "The ICC has noted Mr Mustafa Kamal's comments, which are very unfortunate but made in his personal capacity. As an ICC president, he should have been more considerate in his criticism of ICC match officials, whose integrity cannot be questioned. 

The no-ball decision was a 50-50 call. The spirit of the game dictates that the umpire's decision is final and must be respected. Any suggestion that the match officials had an agenda or did anything other than perform to the best of their ability are baseless and are refuted in the strongest possible terms," the South African said.

Kamal will learn his fate after the World Cup.

No comments: