Umpiring row: ICC backs umpires, asks its president to be more considerate in his criticism

Hundreds of Bangladesh cricket supporters on Thursday burnt an effigy of Pakistani cricket umpire Aleem Dar and marched in the capital Dhaka after the country was knocked out of the World Cup. They chanted “Shame, Shame. No to ICC conspiracy,” as they shouted slogans against the umpires and the International Cricket Council after Bangladesh’s best ever World Cup came to an end following a 109-run defeat against India. ICC president Mustafa Kamal, claiming to speak as a fan and not as ICC President, said the matter needs to be looked into. [caption id=“attachment_2164585” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Was that out or not?[/caption] “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. I am speaking as a fan, not as the ICC president,” Kamal said. “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 – the official body – has been quick to respond. It might even be said that they have taken offence to Kamal’s statement. “As ICC President, Mr Kamal should have been more considerate in his criticism of ICC match officials, whose integrity cannot be questioned,” said the ICC in a statement. “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,” the ICC further said. “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." 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. The decision, however, was given by square-leg umpire Aleem Dar. However, TV replays showed that it was a real touch-and-go situation which could have gone either way. – With inputs from AFP