Bangladesh Cricket Board CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury revealed yesterday that the board has made an official complaint to the International Cricket Council regarding controversial decisions by match officials during the 2015 ICC World Cup quarter-final between Bangladesh and India. According to the BCB high-up, a written complaint was made to the ICC on March 20, a day after the game took place in Melbourne.
The BCB CEO made the disclosure after Supreme Court lawyer Eunus Ali Akond sent a legal notice to the BCB authorities requesting them to appeal to the ICC for punishing the umpires for their wrong decisions during the match. The SC lawyer had sent the notice to BCB president Nazmul Hasan, Secretary to the Sports Ministry and Bangladesh team manager Khaled Mahmud.
Nizamuddin said he is yet to receive the notice and can only comment further after receiving it. He also informed that the BCB is yet to get a reply from the ICC regarding their objection. Mahmud on the other hand remained tight-lipped on the issue and did not wish to comment.
In the notice it was mentioned that on-field umpires Ian Gould and Aleem Dar had given three wrong decisions during the match – the dismissals of Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal and all-rounder Mahmudullah and the no-ball call of Rubel Hossain which denied the dismissal of Indian opener Rohit Sharma.
Rohit was adjudged not out in his 90s when he was caught at the deep square leg region. The on-field umpires were quick to rule out the delivery as a no-ball claiming that the ball was above the batsman’s waist. The quick decision surprised commentator Shane Warne who agreed that generally the umpires take a little more time before making such decisions. At the same time, the replays showed that the ball was under the waist when the batsman played the stroke. Rohit went onto post 137 to allow India to go past the 300-run mark.
The Tigers faced another horrendous decision when Mahmudullah, in tremendous form having scored back-to-back centuries, was caught at fine-leg by Shikhar Dhawan. Doubts immediately arosed as to whether his foot touched the rope when he took the catch.