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ShareNew Delhi: India is not a bully at the International Cricket Council (ICC), the cricket's governing
body said today.
"I have never regarded India as a bully at the ICC," ICC president David Morgan said in response to criticism by some cricket commentators that India always had its way because of its financial muscle.
Morgan referred to his experience with India at the ICC under the leadership of Jagmohan Dalmiya, Sharad Pawar and Shashank Manohar and said he would never accept that India acts as a bully.
"I refer to my experience with India at the ICC under the leadership of Mr Dalmiya, Mr Pawar and now Mr Shashank Manohar. I do not accept that India acts in a bullying fashion," Morgan said from London.
He also sought to dispel the fear of an Indian takeover of the ICC when Sharad Pawar succeeds him as the ICC president.
"I have another year in office and have every confidence in Sharad Pawar that he would be a good leader when he takes over in a year's time," Morgan said.
Regarding the controversy over the ICC's Hall of Fame which has just three Indian cricketers, the game's governing body said more Indians will be added to the elite list.
The ICC said that the list would be updated annually and would have adequate Indian representation.
"This is not the final list. I do believe that a number of magnificent Indian cricketers deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. We will soon develop a mechanism and have plans to add more players to the list on an annual basis," Morgan said.
Former captains Bishan Singh Bedi, Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev are the three Indians in the 55-strong list that includes 22 Englishmen, 11 Australians, 13 West Indians, three from Pakistan, two South Africans and a lone New Zealander.
Strangely, not a single Sri Lankan made it to the list. Morgan said when updated, the list would look balanced.
"There would be balance among nations, on merit," he added.
The list does not contain cricketers who have retired post-1995.
The eminent Indian cricketers missing from the list include CK Nayudu, Lala Amarnath, Vijay Merchant, Vijay Hazare, Vinoo Mankad, Polly Umrigar, Subash Gupte, Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Gundappa Viswanath.
Among the Englishmen, WG Grace, one of the pioneers of the game, has been included but not Ranjitsinhji, who invented the leg glance and scored close to 1000 runs for England.
