'Crowd's behaviour was unfortunate'

BCCI chief Sharad Pawar said the visiting England team brought to his notice the "abusive" behaviour of a section of the crowd during the final Test in Mumbai.

BCCI chief Sharad Pawar on Friday said the visiting England team brought to his notice the "abusive" behaviour of a section of the crowd during third and final Test against India in Mumbai.

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"The England cricketers did bring up the issue. It was unfortunate that some of the spectators hurled abuse at the players," Pawar said while chairing the Annual General Meeting of the Mumbai Cricket Association.

The AGM, which had the decline of Mumbai cricket as it main agenda, also discussed the crowd behaviour at the Wankhede stadium in the series deciding Test which England won by 212 runs.

The topic was raised by a member who mentioned the character of the crowd that filled the North Stand which booed Sachin Tendulkar on his dismissal in the first innings and hurled abuses at England skipper Andrew Flintoff and fast bowler Matthew Hoggard.

Pawar, also the MCA chief, was in agreement with the member. "Even Sunil Gavaskar has written about it," he said.

The BCCI has already been allotted one full floor of the four-storey building that will also serve as MCA's head office.

The Board, which will be contributing Rs 4 crore towards the construction cost, has asked for more space to accomodate a cricket museum.