More Indians will be added to ICC Hall of Fame

The presence of just three Indian cricketers in International Cricket Council's Hall of Fame may have generated controversy in the country but the game's governing body made it clear on Friday that more Indians will be added to the elite list.

The ICC said the list would be updated annually and have adequate Indian representation.

"This is not the final list. I do believe that a number of magnificent Indian cricketers deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. We will soon develop a mechanism and have plans to add more players to the list on an annual basis," ICC president David Morgan said in a telephonic interview from London.

Former captains Bishan Singh Bedi, Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev are only Indians in the 55-strong list that includes 22 Englishmen, 11 Australians, 13 West Indians, three from Pakistan, two South Africans and a lone New Zealander.

Strangely, not a single Sri Lankan made it to the list.

Morgan said when updated the list will look balanced.

"There would be balance among nations, on merit," he added.

The list does not contain cricketers who retired post-1995.

Eminent Indians missing from the list include C K Nayudu, Lala Amarnath, Vijay Merchant, Vijay Hazare, Vinoo Mankad, Polly Umrigar, Subash Gupte, Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Gundappa Viswanath.

Among Englishmen, W G Grace, one of the pioneers of the game, has been included but not Ranjitsinhji, who invented the leg glance and scored close to 1000 runs for England.

Morgan also took the opportunity to rubbish the notion that India has been a bully in the ICC, arm-twisting the governing body because of its financial clout.

"I have never regarded India as a bully at the ICC. I refer to my experience with India at the ICC under the leadership of Mr Dalmiya, Mr Pawar and now Mr Shashank Manohar. I do not accept that India acts in a bullying fashion," Morgan said.

He also sought to dispel the fear of an Indian takeover of the ICC when Sharad Pawar succeeds him as the ICC president.

"I have another year in office and have every confidence in Sharad Pawar that he would be a good leader when he takes over in a year's time," Morgan added.