Melbourne(PTI): Australia all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, who faced criticism from Indian fans for resting his feet on the World Cup trophy, on Friday insisted that the gesture was not disrespectful and he won't mind repeating the controversial act.

Soon after Australia defeated hosts India by six wickets in the final to claim their record-extending sixth ODI World Cup, skipper Pat Cummins shared a picture of Marsh with his feet on the trophy on his Instagram account, creating a huge furore on social media.

"There was obviously no disrespect meant in that photo at all," Marsh said on 'Sen Radio'. "I haven't given it too much thought, I haven't seen a lot on social media even though everyone tells me it's gone off. There's nothing in that," he added

However, when asked if he would do it again, Marsh said "Yeah probably, to be honest."

The picture, which went viral on social media, didn't sit well with Indian fans. Even pacer Mohammed Shami claimed that he felt "hurt" by Marsh's action.

"The trophy for which all the teams in the world fight, the trophy which you want to lift over your head, keeping a foot on that trophy did not make me happy," Shami had said.
 Four days after Australia beat India in the final, the two sides squared off in a five-match T20 series.

Marsh hopes such big series won't be scheduled so soon after ICC tournaments in future as triumphant players deserve to celebrate for a while with their families at home.

"It was pretty outrageous for the guys that had to stay behind. It's a fine line because we've got to respect the fact we're playing for Australia and it's a series against India which is always really big."

"But there's also the human side of it, the boys have just won a World Cup and probably deserve to celebrate for a while and get home to their families. It's an interesting one."

"You'd hope there's not too many of those series put on after big tournaments again," he added.

As many as seven members from Australia's ODI World Cup-winning team stayed back in India after the final on November 19 for the T20I series.

However, six of the seven players have flown back home with Travis Head being the lone member of the World Cup-winning side to stay put for the remaining two games.

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Bengaluru (PTI): The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has collected over Rs 19 lakh as a penalty from 10,069 passengers who were penalised for travelling without tickets and occupying seats exclusively reserved for ladies in the last three months, officials said on Thursday.

The checking staff of BMTC have intensified checking of buses operated in and around Bengaluru City to detect ticketless travelling by passengers, they said.

According to BMTC, during the months of August, September and October, the checking staff checked 57,219 trips and penalised 8,891 ticketless passengers by collecting Rs 17,96,030 as penalty and 5,268 cases were booked against conductors for their dereliction of duty.

During the same period, they have also penalised 1,178 male passengers for occupying seats exclusively reserved for lady passengers and imposed fines by collecting Rs 1,17,800 in accordance with the KMV (Karnataka Motor Vehicle) Rules of the MV Act of 1988.

"In total, during the months of August, September and October, 10,069 passengers were penalised and Rs 19,13,830 was collected," the BTMC officials stated.