Mustafa Kamal to step down from ICC position

Kamal said his decision to resign as ICC president was ‘final’ and ‘not negotiable’ in a press conference in Dhaka organised just after he returned to the country on Wednesday.

Kamal said his resignation was in protest against the ‘flagrant violation’ of ICC constitution.

He also said according to clause 3.3 of the ICC constitution only the president has the right to hand over the trophy to the winners of a match like the World Cup final.

“I was supposed to present the trophy to the winners after the Melbourne final on Mar 29. But I couldn’t do that.”

Kamal claimed he was not allowed to present the trophy to the captain of winning team of the final as an issue was made of some of his comments after the Bangladesh-India quarterfinal match.

“From here on, I will speak as the former president of the ICC,” he said after announcing his resignation.

“It is not possible to work with those who will violate the constitution. I want to let the people of the world know this,” he added.

Kamal was critical on the ‘controversial’ umpiring decisions in the Bangladesh-India match at Melbourne. He termed the ICC as ‘Indian Cricket Council’ and had said he would step down as president, if needed, after the match.

In response, ICC Chief Executive David Richardson, in a statement issued the following day, hit back at Kamal for his comments and said the remarks were ‘very unfortunate’.

Then a massive spat erupted between Kamal and ICC chairman N Srinivasan, who violated ICC practice and presented the World Cup to winners Australia at Melbourne last Sunday.

Normally, ICC presidents do the honours, but Srinivasan used Kamal’s outburst against poor umpiring in the India-Bangladesh quarter-final match and got others to support his decision to present the trophy at the presentation ceremony.

Kamal was not on the dais during the presentation ceremony and Srinivasan was booed heavily by sections of the 93,000 strong crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

He had earlier threatened to reveal some of ICC’s ‘dark secrets’ after the spat.