[Watch] When Ricky Ponting pushed Sharad Pawar away after collecting the 2006 Champions Trophy
A 17-year-old video of then-Australian captain Ricky Ponting forcing Indian politician Sharad Pawar to leave the stage while celebrating the 2006 Champions Trophy win has gone viral on social media ahead of the 2023 World Cup final. At the time, Pawar was the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president.
In the final that day, Australia bowled Sri Lanka out for just 138. They then chased the total down in the 29th of the available 35 overs (reduced due to rains), with eight wickets to spare.
At the post-match presentation, Pawar was called on stage to hand over the trophy to the Australians. As he walked up, Ponting tapped the politician on the back and asked for the trophy.
Pawar in turn asked Ponting to come forward and receive it. He did so, and then ushered Pawar to move out of the picture.
As Ponting came back to join his team, Damien Martyn pushed Sharad Pawar, and the Indian subsequently walked off.
Watch the video here:
Pawar initially played down the incident, even as other BCCI officials slammed the Australians in interviews. But later in an interview with Sydney Morning Herald, the former BCCI chief made his feelings clear.
"I will not react to this other than to say it was totally uncivilised," he said. "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."
Pawar added that he'd accept an apology to clear the matter.
Pawar reportedly didn't answer Ricky Ponting's calls, CA set up meeting
Newspaper reports at the time said Ponting tried to reach out to Pawar at least a dozen times after the incident, but the latter had turned his phone off. Cricket Australia (CA) then had to take an appointment with the politician for a call with the Australian captain.
When that got through, the Aussie was reported to have apologized and said his team "did not intend to show any disrespect to a senior person like you".
CA and the BCCI maintained that their relations were good. CA chief James Sutherland said he was disappointed that the gesture was seen as a mark of "disrespect" and attributed the flare-up to cultural differences.