DHAKA: The International Cricket Council (ICC) Friday issued the following statement following comments about the match officials in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 quarter-final between Bangladesh and India in Melbourne on Thursday.

In the statement, ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said “The ICC has noted 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.

Bangladesh's 109-run defeat against India in a World Cup quarterfinal has created an outcry in Bangladesh, with fans and supporters alleging the umpires had ‘favoured' the winners.

International Cricket Council (ICC) president Mustafa Kamal has expressed similar sentiments.

“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,” said the ICC statement.

“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.”

“We now look forward to an exciting last few matches of what has been a very successful and interesting ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.”

India’s Rohit Sharma, who top-scored with 137, had not been given out when he was on 90. Rohit had been caught at deep mid-wicket off the bowling of Rubel Hossain, but umpires Aleem Dar and Ian Gould signalled a no-ball for what appeared to be a legitimate waist-high delivery.

Following the match, the ICC president Mustafa Kamal has threatened to quit his post over the umpiring in the match, stating that the controversial decisions seemed to have been deliberate.

As Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza so succinctly put it, "You all saw what happened."

The battle was taken up by officials and former officials. "Naturally we will appeal against these decisions in our report," BCB president Nazmul Hassan said. "It won't change the result, unfortunately. One wrong decision can make a huge difference in a World Cup quarter-final. I have had discussions with the ICC president (Mustafa Kamal) as no one else among the senior (ICC) officials were here in Melbourne. Legally what needs to be done, we will do it."

BDST: 1948 HRS, MAR 20, 2015