However, Sri Lanka Cricket secretary Nishantha Ranatunga told MiD DAY that there was no pressure from BCCI. “It is all rubbish. There was no pressure on us from the BCCI to ask our captain to vote for Siva. It was purely our own decision. Siva has played a good amount of cricket. His understanding of the game is fine. So, he was the most deserving candidate,” he said yesterday.

Ranatunga, who is the brother of Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup-winning captain Arjuna, said other boards always have a problem when an Asian is voted.u00a0