Sydney: International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive David Richardson yesterday slammed his organisation’s Bangladeshi president for questioning the integrity of umpires, saying allegations of fixing were “unfortunate” and “baseless”.

ICC Chief Executive David Richardson. INSET: Mustafa Kamal

Mustafa Kamal claimed decisions made by officials during Bangladesh’s 109-run loss to India in their World Cup quarter-final seemed to have been “pre-arranged”. Kamal was angry that Rohit Sharma, who top-scored with 137, had not been given not out on 90 when he was caught at deep mid-wicket, only for umpires Aleem Dar and Ian Gould to signal a no-ball for what appeared to be a legitimate waist-high delivery.

“The ICC has noted Mr Mustafa Kamal’s comments, which are very unfortunate but made in his personal capacity. As an ICC President, he should have been more considerate in his criticism of ICC match officials, whose integrity cannot be questioned,” said Richardson.

“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,” he added.

“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,” Richardson insisted.