Wrong to see India in negative light in cricket: Howard

MELBOURNE: Set to take over as ICC President from 2012, former Australian Prime Minister John Howard has rejected concerns about India's dominance in international cricket, saying the country's enormous stature should not be viewed in a "negative light"."Indiais the second most populous country in the world, it's cricket-mad, they arepluses," Howard said."I think it's entirely wrong to look at theIndian involvement in cricket in a negative light. I think of those millions ofpeople in India and the subcontinent ... who play cricket. They play it with apassion and love it," he added.Howard, who has been jointly nominated for the post by Australia and New Zealand, will take over once India's Sharad Pawar finishes his two-year term starting this June.Theself-confessed "cricket-tragic" refuted suggestions that he was not qualifiedenough for the job."I think the fact I haven't been involved incricket administration is explained by the fact I had a day job which made thatrather difficult," he said.Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has backed Howard'snomination despite his past comments on spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan'sbowling action.Howard had called Muralitharan a chucker in 2004 butthe ace off-spinner says he has forgiven the Aussie for the jibe."We know that Howard as prime minister unruffled a few feathers calling Muttiah Muralitharan a chucker, but that is now a thing of the past," Sri Lanka Cricket secretary Nishantha Ranatunga said."We don't want to harp on it anymore. We have to look to the future and try to work cordially with whoever iselected to the ICC post. We have no control over people elected to thatposition," he added.Howard's nomination will be approved at theICC's executive board meeting in April and will be finalised at the annualconference in June.