left fuming after he was denied the honour of handing over the World Cup winners’ trophy, Mustafa Kamal on Wednesday resigned as ICC President and launched a scathing attack on the world cricket body’s Chairman N Srinivasan, calling him “rotten”. “I am just sending my resignation to the ICC...I was not allowed to work in line with the ICC constitution and I cannot work with them beyond the ICC constitution,” he told a crowded press conference at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport here on Wednesday.
The ICC accepted his resignation, claiming that, in his letter to Chief Executive David Richardson, Kamal said he was stepping down on personal grounds and even offered his apologies to all associated with the ICC, while adding that he had no complaints to make against anyone. “let the game of cricket under the leadership of ICC touch the hearts and minds of every cricket lover,” he was quoted as saying by the ICC. The ICC Board will now consider the vacant position of the ICC president at its forthcoming meeting in Dubai on April 15 and 16. Kamal was livid at not being given the opportunity to hand out the World Cup trophy to champions Australia and had left the Melbourne Cricket Ground even before the final finished. Instead, Srinivasan handed over the trophy to Australian skipper Michael Clarke.
Kamal was reportedly denied the honours after he blamed poor umpiring for Bangladesh’s comprehensive loss to India in the quarterfinals. The ICC was forced to issue a statement to reject his charges. The Bangladesh Cricket Board President on Wednesday launched an extraordinary attack on ICC Chairman N Srinivasan after returning to the country.Calling him “rotten and controversial”, Kamal said the ICC could well now be called the “Indian Cricket Council”. “I feel bad even to mention his name. If that man is in charge of cricket, how will cricket runIJ” Kamal said. “These type of people should be away from cricket, these kind of people are polluting the game. Otherwise cricket will be spoilt. It is my earnest request to the ICC to revisit these things and people should research why I have resigned,” he added.
Kamal was reportedly denied the honours after he blamed poor umpiring for Bangladesh’s comprehensive loss to India in the quarterfinals. The ICC was forced to issue a statement to reject his charges. This reportedly infuriated Srinivasan, who wasn’t amused after hearing Kamal’s comments on record. While the former BCCI president didn’t say anything in public, he did express his displeasure to the ICC board members and questioned as to how can Kamal pinpoint on one wrong umpiring decision and take it as an isolated case.
Kamal claimed he was asked to withdraw his comments. “I will not withdraw the statement because it was the sentiment of 160 million people. Then they told me, if you can’t submit an apology or withdraw the statement, you can’t present the trophy,” he said. According to an amendment in the memorandum and articles of association of the ICC which was unanimously approved by Full Council in January 2015, it appeared that the job of handing over of trophies at global events rests on the ICC president.
According to clause 3.3 (B): “With effect from the 2014 Conference Close Date, the President shall act solely as chairman at Conference and Special Meetings and be responsible for presenting trophies at global competitions and cricket events held under the aegis of the Council. For the avoidance of doubt, with effect from the 2014 Conference Close Date, the President will no longer act as chairman of the Executive Board or as chairman of any Committee or Sub-Committee.” The ICC President is, however, the ceremonial head while executive powers lie with the chairman. However, till 1996, the World Cup has been handed by various people and not necessarily the head of ICC. “The main reason for my resignation is that I can’t work with those who can act unconstitutionally and unlawfully,” he said.
Kamal had made a stinging criticism about “umpiring bias” during Bangladesh’s loss to India. In that match, India’s Rohit Sharma was not given out to a Rubel Hossain delivery which apparently looked a “touch and go” decision. He insisted that he had not spoken against any country but said he was denied the opportunity of presenting the World Cup trophy for “speaking the truth”.
Kamal had come close to questioning the integrity of the umpires by saying that the ICC should investigate the matter and questioned whether some decisions were “deliberate or not.” A day later, the ICC’s chief executive, Dave Richardson, termed Kamal’s criticism “unfortunate”. On arriving back in the country on Wednesday, Kamal addressed a dramatic press conference during which he asked the present journalists to suggest whether he should tender his resignation.
“Yes, you should resign,” answered one of the scribes to which Kamal replied, “OK, I am just going to do that.” “With my resignation, I paved the way for ensuring justice for this injustice,” Kamal said, adding that during the presentation ceremony Srinivasan was booed heavily by the 93,000 strong crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Kamal said he was apprehensive about the fate of cricket in the hands of a “controversial man” like Srinivasion while he praised his predecessors in ICC Sharad Pawar calling him his “mentor” and also Jagmohan Dalmiya for his support to him. “I am afraid what would be the fate of cricket if people like him (Srinivasan) are in charge while he is accused of so many corruption and criminal cases in his own country,” Kamal said.
He said that the technologies routinely used in international matches were not used in the Bangladesh-India match as the umpires repeatedly gave controversial decisions. “I had some observations about the match on that day when there was no spider camera in the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)...For the first time I saw there is no spider camera in the MCG,” Kamal said. “I’m not telling you that the umpires did it deliberately, but why the technology was not used (to negate the errors),” he added.
Moreover, Kamal said, “the ICC was the owner of the big screen in the field which displayed “jitega bhai India jitega” (India will win brother, India will win) . . . What does it meanIJ Why the ICC-run scoreboard should carry the message”. He said that despite his directive to the ICC commercial manager to remove the advertisement, it remained on the screen.
Former PCB chairman Sethi available for President’s post
Karachi: Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) former chairman Najam Sethi has made himself available for the post of ICC president, left vacant by the resignation of Kamal. According to reliable sources in Dubai, Sethi, who now heads the PCB’s executive committee, had notified the apex body that he was ready to take over as ICC president following Kamal’s resignation. Sethi is scheduled to take over as ICC president in late June as a nominee of Pakistan since the position is now shared on rotation basis by the Test nations.
“What Sethi is not aware of is that he might have caused some embarrassment for the Pakistan board since under the constitution if Mustafa Kamal has resigned his place can be filled by another nominee of the Bangladesh cricket board,” a source said. He said according to constitution since the ICC President’s post was largely a ceremonial one and was rotated between member countries even if Mustafa resigned before the expiry of his term the Bangladesh board had the right to nominate another candidate to fill in till the expiry of the full term.