Mustafa Kamal resigned as president of the International Cricket Council on Wednesday with an outspoken attack on the world governing body after he was prevented from presenting the World Cup trophy.
Kamal accused the ICC of behaving “unlawfully” after he was barred from making the presentation. He said he was blocked because he refused to withdraw an incendiary allegation of match-fixing.
The Bangladeshi national said after his country’s World Cup quarter-final defeat by India that there was “no quality in the umpiring” and suggested the result had been “pre-arranged”.
The claim drew a sharp rebuke from ICC chief executive David Richardson and Kamal later complained that he had been deprived of his “right” as ICC president to present the trophy to the winners, Australia, in Melbourne last Sunday.
Instead that honour went to India’s Narayanaswami Srinivasan, who took over as ICC chairman last year and who was booed at the ceremony.
“I resign right at this moment. I am no longer ICC president,” Kamal told reporters at the airport in Dhaka, where he arrived on Wednesday from Singapore.
“The main reason for my resignation is that I can’t work with those who can act unconstitutionally and unlawfully.”
An ICC spokesman told AFP by phone the world body had “not received any information” about Kamal’s resignation, and refused to comment further.
– ‘Rotten’ –
Kamal’s position has been largely ceremonial since Srinivasan took office as ICC chairman last year.
On Wednesday, he launched an extraordinary attack on the Indian national, calling him “rotten” and “controversial” and suggesting the ICC could stand for “Indian Cricket Council”.
“I feel bad even to mention his name,” he said. “If that man is in charge of cricket, how will cricket run?”
Srinivasan was forced to quit as head of India’s cricket board over a corruption inquiry involving his son-in-law.
Kamal, who is a government minister in Bangladesh, had earlier threatened to quit over the umpiring of the quarter-final.
He said he had been told he would only be allowed to present the trophy if he withdrew his claim of bias.
“I will not withdraw the statement because it was the sentiment of 160 million people,” Kamal said, referring to the population of Bangladesh.
“Then they told me, if you can’t submit an apology or withdraw the statement, you can’t present the trophy,” Kamal said.
Emotions in cricket-mad Bangladesh ran high after the 109-run defeat by India in the team’s first-ever World Cup quarter-final.
Fans wept openly in the streets and burnt an effigy of umpire Aleem Dar, who is from rival nation Pakistan.
Kamal also called for a clean-up of the ICC, saying cricket should be “run by people who are holy and who believe in honesty”.
A spokesman for Kamal said he had sent a resignation letter to Richardson, the ICC chief executive.
