Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq said he made the right decision at The Oval last month, when his team was adjudged to have forfeited the fourth Test, even though his punishment means he will miss the Champions Trophy.

Inzamam was Thursday cleared of ball-tampering but found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute over his side's refusal to continue play against England.

He will therefore be unable to lead his country into next month's Champions Trophy and must hand the reins to deputy Younis Khan.

"I knew I was going to be in trouble when I made the protest," Inzamam told Bigstarcricket.com.

"It was not a decision I took easily, because nobody wants to prevent the spectators from watching the cricket - both at the ground and on television."

Even so - and despite the fact Pakistan became the first team in Test history to forfeit a Test match - Inzamam does not believe he did the wrong thing.

"Although I regret the public were deprived of watching cricket, I don't regret making the decision to stay off the field - because there are certain things more important than winning and losing or the rule book," he said.

"I felt the respect and integrity of my country had been brought into question, so the support the country has given me in this issue has been comforting. It told me that we were right to do what we did."

Inzamam believes his decision - which helped to hand England a 3-0 series victory - helped focus attention on what he saw as an unfair ruling.

"If we had just carried on with the game, the world would not have sat up and taken notice of how we had been accused of something we were not guilty of," he said.

"We felt we had to stand up and protest. Ultimately, I understand the ICC's decision to ban me. I did what I felt was right - and so did they."

Inzamam was heartened by the support he received from well-wishers at a difficult time, saying: "I had a call on my mobile literally every minute after the hearing and I appreciate everyone's good wishes."

(Article: Copyright © 2006 AFP)