The International Cricket Council (ICC) has defended match officials following criticisms by its own president about the controversial no-ball decision in in the World Cup quarter-final match between Bangladesh and India.
“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.”
ICC Chief Executive David Richardson issued an official statement following comments about the match officials in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 quarter-final between Bangladesh and India in Melbourne on Thursday.
“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,” he stated.
India opener Rohit Sharma was given not out in his 90’s when he was caught deep in the field in a paceman Rubel Hossain delivery.
Pakistani Umpire Aleem Dar was quick to rule out the delivery as no-ball claiming that the ball was above the batsman’s waist.
The swift decision surprised commentators Shane Warne and Harsha Bhogle who agreed that generally the umpires took a little more time on that decision.
Former Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne, who was on commentary during the time, said: “That should have been a wicket. The ball was under the waist.”
VVS Laxman, a former Indian cricketer, also criticised umpire Gould’s decision to call it a ‘no ball’ when Indian batsman Rohit Sharma was caught off Rubel.
Laxman tweeted: “Bad decision from Gould,was definitely not above the waist.Lucky break for rohit.this can b the difference in getting xtra 20 runs.”
Source: Dhaka Tribune
