ACC `beamer’ leaves Amarnath dazed

COLOMBO, July 13: Mohinder Amarnath, has faced numerous bouncers in his illustrious batting career. In fact, his career is a saga of guts, ...

COLOMBO, July 13: Mohinder Amarnath, has faced numerous bouncers in his illustrious batting career. In fact, his career is a saga of guts, grit and glory as he recovered from an assortment of physical blows by the speedsters and mental blows by the selectors to emerge as one of the finest players of pace in modern cricketing era.

However, even the courageous Amarnath did not how to react by the `beamer’ hurled at him — and Pakistan’s Talat Ali by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) authorities.

Amarnath landed here with a letter from the ACC that he is required for the Asia Cup as one of the match referees. Accordingly, he flew into Colombo, only to be informed by mediamen that the match referee for the Asia Cup is New Zealand’s John Reid and no one else!

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Amarnath was enlightened by a few members of the fourth estate that the information they had was official as it came from the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Board of Control in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) Dhammika Ranatunga.

An embarrassed Amarnath was dumbstruck: “What can I say? I have a letter from the Asian Cricket Council asking me to report here and I have also been told to attend the referees’ meeting today.”

Upali Dharamadasa, the president of the BCCSL and the ACC, told The Indian Express that the letter to Amarnath was sent by the ACC before he took over as its chief last month.

While efforts are being made to get in touch with Jagmohan Dalmiya and Dave Richards, the International Cricket Council (ICC) president and chief executive officer respectively, to find a solution to the faux pas, Dharmadasa said: “Amarnath is a celebrity, he is more than welcome to be our guest.”