President Kamal threatens to expose ICC

Melbourne, March 30 

The simmering row within the ICC took an ugly turn today with its president Mustafa Kamal threatening to expose the “mischievous” designs of some people who denied him his “constitutional right” to hand over the World Cup trophy to the winners. The trophy was presented to Australian captain Michael Clarke by ICC chairman N Srinivasan. Kamal, however, claimed that the ICC’s amendment of its rules in January 2015 mandated the president to give away trophies at global competitions.

“I was supposed to give the trophy, it’s my constitutional right. Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to, my rights were dishonoured. After I go back home, I will let the whole world know what’s happening in the ICC, expose those who are doing these mischievous things,” said Kamal.

According to the amendment Kamal is referring to, which was unanimously approved in January 2015, the job of presenting the trophies at global events apparently rests with the president. 

Kamal had made a stinging criticism about “umpiring bias” during Bangladesh’s quarterfinal loss to India. In that match, India’s Rohit Sharma was not given out to a Rubel Hossain delivery which was declared no-ball. 

Kamal insisted that he was denied the opportunity for “speaking the truth”. “I commented on poor umpiring and even the ICC issued a press release. I was the president, I am the president and I will remain the president. But I have been robbed of my constitutional right to speak the truth, to speak and to stand for cricket,” he said. “I had spoken for the ICC, not against any country.” 

Kamal had come close to questioning the integrity of the umpires by saying that the ICC should investigate the matter. According to sources in the ICC, Kamal was told that he wouldn’t be allowed to present the trophy during an ICC meeting in Melbourne on Saturday. It is learnt that Srinivasan was extremely angry after Kamal voiced raised doubts about umpiring. — PTI