Mustafa Kamal blasts 'controversial' N. Srinivasan

N. Srinivasan (L), David Richardson (C) and Mustafa Kamal (R)

Dhaka, April 1 (IANS) Mustafa Kamal, who resigned as International Cricket Council (ICC) president on Wednesday, strongly criticised the sport's governing body chairman N Srinivasan, saying he is worried about the future of cricket in the hands of this "controversial" figure.

Kamal announced his resignation from the post of the ICC president at a press conference after returning to Bangladesh on Wednesday, reports bdnews24.com.

"As the former ICC president, I'll say they are mentally imbalanced and are incapable of thinking normally. It is not the ICC's fault. One or two people are like this, I've just paved the path for their removal," he said.

Srinivasan was forced to step down as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) following a massive Indian Premier League match-fixing controversy.

"The person (Srinivasan) is controversial even in his own country. He is entangled in various cases. You know the nature of those cases. What will be the state of cricket if he is in charge?"

Kamal said Srinivasan had failed to corrupt cricket and that the crowd gave him a fitting reply during the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), where he was booed during the prize giving ceremony.

"When they announced his name, the crowd chanted 'we don't accept, we don't accept'. They booed this rotten, filthy person. He later left the field quietly. I think cricket has won, truth has prevailed. Those who want to function by force have not won," he added.

Srinivasan violated the ICC constitution by presenting the World Cup trophy to winning Australia captain Michael Clarke instead of Kamal on March 29. According to ICC's amendment of rules in January 2015, the president is to hand out the trophy. But in a breach of the constitution, Srinivasan presented the trophy to Clarke after the match on Sunday.

This followed a massive spat between Kamal and Srinivasan.

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