INDIA DEMAND APOLOGY

Pawar yet to get any apology

Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, has described the behaviour of Ricky Ponting Damien Martyn during their Champions Trophy victory celebrations as "totally uncivilised". Pawar, who was the chief guest at the prize-distribution function, was first asked by Ponting to leave the podium and was gently pushed by Martyn.

Ponting had said on Wednesday that he would apologise to Pawar "once I've spoken to him (Pawar) and got a bit of an idea about how he's taken the whole thing, and not just listen to what's been said by the Indian journalists and what a fuss they're making of it".

Pawar, though, is yet to hear from Ponting or anyone from Australia for that matter. In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Pawar criticised the Australians but said that he was not at all interested in politicising the incident.

"This is not good at all, but I have decided to play it down because we have an extremely good relationship with the Australian board and we would like for that to keep going. Those players were not allowed to come onto the dais. It was only supposed to be the captain. Certainly I would accept an apology because then we could close this chapter. The Australian board is headed by a respected and civilised man and our relationship is extremely good. If they apologise, it would be a good signal to the people in this country."

James Sutherland, Cricket Australia CEO had said yesterday that the relations between both boards were absolutely fine. "It's unfortunate that there has been an interpretation of disrespect from that. I know that no disrespect was intended by the Australian players; I have spoken to Ricky about it. Perhaps sometimes these things can happen between different cultures."

On Darrell's Hair sacking by the ICC, Pawar said he didn't see any harm between the relations. "Australia is a democratic country with its own honest views," he said. "I may agree or not agree with those views, and that is okay. I respect their view. The Pakistan Cricket Board briefed us on what happened to them in London. A man should not treat a country in that fashion and some of our colleagues agreed on that. It was not a happy chapter."

 

:: www.cricinfo.com