LAHORE: Pakistan and Bangladesh cricket boards’ joint nomination of Mustafa Kamal as the next president of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2014 is not likely to be approved by various member countries of the game’s governing body when they meet in Dubai on January 31, Dawn has learnt reliably.
“Influential members of the ICC such as England, Australia, New Zealand, coupled with leading Asian countries like India and Sri Lanka have joined hands in the campaign to reject the nomination of Mustafa Kamal as candidate for the ICC president’s post for a two-year term, starting from 2014,” a highly-placed source told Dawn on condition of anonymity.
“India and Sri Lanka’s shocking support to the non-Asian countries against Mustafa’s nomination is most likely to tilt the balance against the PCB and the Bangladesh Cricket Board on this issue,” the source said.
It may be mentioned here that both PCB and the BCB were to nominate a unanimous person as the next president of the ICC for the 2014-2016 term.
Though the PCB was willing to appoint its own candidate for this post earlier, it decided to support Bangladesh candidate Mustafa Kamal in return of the tour of Bangladesh cricket team to Pakistan which could be instrumental in reviving international cricket in Pakistan.
The source further said that the member countries would most likely ask the PCB and the BCB to nominate another name for the coveted post.
The source further said the opposition from Australia, New Zealand and England to Mustafa could be a tit-for-tat gesture to the Asian bloc’s resistance against the appointment of former Australian prime minister John Howard for the same post in the past.
PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf, when contacted to comment on the situation, said he was unaware about any such move against Mustafa’s nomination. However, he said if any such move is made in Dubai, the PCB will stand by its decision to support the BCB candidate unless Mustafa himself decides against contesting for the ICC post.
Zaka expressed his surprise on why any member country would go against Mustafa since he was also the chairman of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) for sometime.
“I am not in a position to offer any final comment on this but it is clear that the PCB will stand by Mustafa Kamal,” Zaka said.
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