International Cricket Council (ICC) president Mustafa Kamal has threatened to quit his post alleging foul play in the second quarter-final between India and Bangladesh that the defending champions won. The controversy over a no-ball decision, which gave a life-line to centurion Rohit Sharma.
"From what I have seen, the umpiring was very poor. There was no quality in the umpiring. It seemed as if they had gone into the match with something in mind," he said and added that he may quit his post over his country's controversial defeat.
"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," Kamal said.
Also outraged by the umpiring, the Bangladesh Cricket Board is all set to lodge a protest in the ICC and has got the backing of Kamal.
"Bangladesh were handed a 109-run thrashing by India in the quarter-final match. The only dramatic moment in what was otherwise a clinical Indian performance was when Rohit got a close no-ball reprieve.
Rohit was on an individual score of 90 and team total on 196 in the 40th over bowled by Rubel Hossain when a marginal 'no-ball' call went in favour of the Indian opener. Rohit went onto add another 47 runs in quick time to help India go past 300-run mark.
Ian Gould was the umpire who adjudged Rubel's full-toss as waist high 'no-ball' with Rohit being holed out at deep mid-wicket boundary. However, TV replays showed that it was a real touch-and-go situation which could have gone either way.
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza had also expressed his displeasure at a few decisions going against his side, though he did not say in so many words. "I don't want to say anything about the umpiring decisions. Everybody present saw what happened. So it's not fair on my part to comment on this," a peeved Mortaza said.
ICC backs umpires
ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said, "The ICC has noted 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.”
Protests erupt in Bangladesh
Rage in social media continued to mount as mainstream Bangladeshi newspapers castigated the “poor umpiring,” reflecting a nationwide anger against umpires’ alleged ‘bias’ for Indians. Most Bangladeshi newspapers carried comments of cricket connoisseurs criticising the umpiring in the Bangladesh-India match to justify the protests with mass circulation Samokal newspapers carried a banner headline saying “The umpires defeated Bangladesh.” “India, umpires beat Bangladesh in World Cup QF,” read another headline carried by the Dhaka Trubune.
Furious fans continued to ventilate their rage in the social media after hundreds supporters staged protest marches at different parts of the country including the premier Dhaka University campus where they also burnt an effigy of Pakistani umpire Aleem Dar.
