CHENNAI – International Cricket council (ICC) chief executive Haroon Lorgat has written off the stoning of the West Indies team bus by furious Bangladesh fans as “a minor incident” not worthy of serious punishment.
Fans angered at the tournament co-host’s nine-wicket defeat to the West Indies hurled stones at the bus as it left Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in the Mirpur suburb of Dhaka on Friday.
But Lorgat said yesterday he does not envisage tough sanctions over the incident from the ICC.
He acknowledged that the ICC could move matches to alternative locations if it had concerns over security but said that was unlikely.
“We would not move the games lightly but it is not something which we would discount completely,” Lorgat said. “I don’t believe that particular incident justifies any game being moved just yet.
“We do have contingency plans but we have got a very, very robust security arrangement in place and I am extremely confident we will see the tournament through as scheduled.”
Lorgat added that police had arrested suspects and that the ICC had requested a report on the incident from Bangladeshi organizers.
Police in Mirpur yesterday confirmed the arrests.
Wazed Ali, officer in charge at Mirpur police station, said more than three dozen people had been arrested in connection with the attack.
“We must have perspective,” Lorgat said. “It was a minor incident. It was some disappointed fans as a result of the home team being defeated so convincingly by the visitors.
“My understanding is that a few individuals threw pebbles at the bus – and they were pebbles.”
West Indies media manager Philip Spooner said seven stones hit the right side of the bus, with two of them cracking windows, as it left the stadium in the Dhaka suburb of Mirpur.
No one was hurt but West Indies team manager Richie Richardson would ask the West Indies Cricket Board to take the matter to the ICC for investigation.
Local police said they thought it was a case of missed targets, as both the team buses were leaving the stadium in convoy on Friday.
That view was echoed yesterday by India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
“Yesterday they missed the Bangladesh bus, that’s what they were waiting for,” he told a news conference in Bangalore, as he prepared for India’s game against Ireland today.
“But it is unfortunate that in the subcontinent, that is how fans react.”
Mesbah Uddin, security director of the World Cup’s local organizing committee in Dhaka, said yesterday that security arrangements there were being reviewed. (AP)
