Insiders say Sharma broke the age-old tradition of giving national body president an honour to be the "master of the ceremonies".
Did Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) president Rajat Sharma deliberately bar Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) acting president CK Khanna from presenting the winners' trophy to Australian skipper Aaron Finch on Wednesday.
According to eye witnesses, the newly-elected president of DDCA had a heated exchange with Khanna — who was DDCA chief for over three-and-a-half decades till recently — just before the start of the ceremony.
Insiders say Sharma broke the age-old tradition of giving national body president an honour to be the "master of the ceremonies".
This came hours after Sharma denied entry to his once-upon-a-time friend, and now suspended DDCA secretary Vinod Tihara, into the Ferozeshah Kotla premises.
Earlier in the day, Sharma also entered the record books by becoming first non-cricketer to ring the bell, installed outside the players' pavilion gate, before the start of the fifth ODI Wednesday after Kotla became only the second ground in India, after Kolkata's Eden Gardens, to have installed a Lord's-like bell.
Sharma's act was immediately criticised by almost everyone in Kotla, keeping in mind that legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar was also present in the commentary box.
A senior BCCI official said, "This is shameful. When players like Gavaskar or Bishan Singh Bedi are there to do the honours, how can an official think of doing so?"
"The honour to perform this ceremony before any international game at the Lord's Pavilion is only being given to a cricketer of the competing teams or any ex-cricketer to mark the beginning of the play. In Kolkata too when this ceremony was performed, the honour was given to legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev in 2016," added the BCCI official.
It will be interesting to see if Committee of Administrators (COA) will take cognizance of this or the BCCI president will continued to embarrassed by state associations in the future.
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