World Cup 2015: Umpiring in Bangladesh vs India match sparks protests in Bangladesh

DHAKA: Rage in social media continued to mount as mainstream Bangladeshi newspapers today castigated the "poor umpiring" in the World Cup cricket quarter final match with India, reflecting a nationwide anger against umpires' alleged 'bias' for Indians.

Most Bangladeshi newspapers carried comments of cricket connoisseurs criticising the umpiring in the Bangladesh-India match to justify the protests with mass circulation Samokal newspapers carried a banner headline saying "The umpires defeated Bangladesh".

"India, umpires beat Bangladesh in World Cup QF," read another headline carried by the Dhaka Trubune.

Furious fans continued to ventilate their rage in the social media like Facebook a day after hundreds supporters staged protest marches at different parts of the country including the premier Dhaka University campus where they also burnt an effigy of Pakistani umpire Aleem Dar.

The protest erupted soon after defending champions India yesterday reached World Cup semi-finals with a crushing 109-run win over Bangladesh at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

"The controversies which for sure will continue for many more days was whether an umpiring error helped Rohit to score his first World Cup hundred and denied the Tigers from seizing momentum at a crucial stage or whether inform Mahmudullah Riyad was a bit unlucky when he was given out in dubious circumstances," the Daily Star newspaper commented.

A controversial decision by square leg umpire Dar first outraged the fans as he called a no-ball for the delivery's "excessive height" as Imrul Kayes came forward from deep and claimed a catch of Rohit Sharma.

Former Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne, who was on commentary at that time, said: "that should have been a wicket. The ball was under the waist".

Bangladesh was unable to review the decision, having suffered a line ball LBW review failure earlier in the innings.

As the Facebook and twitters were flooded with angry comments one of the fans wrote "What we saw on Thursday, on three separate occasions, was the Bangladesh team denied a fair hearing".

"I'll just talk about the no-ball, since that was the most blatant, and probably the most influential decision," wrote Shayan S Khan in a Facebook posting.

International Cricket Council (ICC) president Mustafa Kamal, a Bangladeshi, also joined the protest against the Pakistan umpire saying "If needed, I will resign from the ICC. Speaking as fan, it appears to me that it (ICC) has become Indian Cricket Council. There needs to be an investigation. A result was forced on us today," he told a private TV channel.