Australians deny deliberately offending official

Sydney, Nov 8: Australia captain Ricky Ponting says his team did not intend to appear disrespectful to India's top cricket official during the Champions Trophy presentation.

The Australians were criticised by Indian newspapers after claims Damien Martyn pushed Indian cricket chief Sharad Pawar in the back to get him off the podium while they were celebrating their win.

Ponting was also criticised for appearing to gesture Mr Pawar to hand over the trophy and move off the stage during the long and drawn-out ceremony.

Ponting said his team had never intended to offend Mr Pawar but added that he planned to speak with him to clear up any misunderstanding and offer an apology.

''I'll be doing the best I can to get to the concerned people in India to get my point across and let them know we weren't trying to embarrass them,'' Ponting told a news conference today.

''Hopefully, we haven't offended him too much and we've got to be aware of those sort of things in the future. We've got to show the due respect to everyone that's around us -- that's part of representing your country.'' Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said he was satisfied the players had not meant to offend Mr Pawar but was disappointed at the way the team had been portrayed in the Indian media.

''It is really disappointing because I know our players have the utmost respect for India,'' he said.

REUTERS

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