> Pawar yet to get any apology

BCCI president Sharad Pawar has termed the actions of Australian captain Ricky Ponting and batsman Damien Martyn during their Champions Trophy victory celebrations as "totally uncivilised".

Having won their first Champions Tropny title, Ponting, eager to get their hands on the cup, asked Pawar, the chief guest, to leave the podium. When Pawar remained static, Martyn placed his hand on Pawar's back and motioned him to move away. No doubt this move infuriated the Indians and the national media vehemently criticised the rough Australian attitude.

Ponting, on Wednesday, had said that he would apologise to Pawar "once I've spoken to him (Pawar) and got a bit of an idea about how he's taken the whole thing, and not just listen to what's been said by the Indian journalists and what a fuss they're making of it".

Pawar, though, is yet to hear from Ponting or anyone from Australia for that matter. In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Pawar criticised the Australians but said that he was not at all interested in politicising the incident.

"This is not good at all, but I have decided to play it down because we have an extremely good relationship with the Australian board and we would like for that to keep going. Those players were not allowed to come onto the dais. It was only supposed to be the captain. Certainly I would accept an apology because then we could close this chapter. The Australian board is headed by a respected and civilised man and our relationship is extremely good. If they apologise, it would be a good signal to the people in this country."

On his part James Sutherland, Cricket Australia CEO had said yesterday that the relations between both boards were absolutely fine. "It's unfortunate that there has been an interpretation of disrespect from that. I know that no disrespect was intended by the Australian players; I have spoken to Ricky about it. Perhaps sometimes these things can happen between different cultures."

On another strained topic, that of Darrell's Hair sacking by the ICC, Pawar felt he didn't see any harm between the relations. "Australia is a democratic country with its own honest views," he said. "I may agree or not agree with those views, and that is okay. I respect their view. The Pakistan Cricket Board briefed us on what happened to them in London. A man should not treat a country in that fashion and some of our colleagues agreed on that. It was not a happy chapter."