NEW DELHI, Sept 26 - India have asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) to omit Australian umpire Darrell Hair from next month's Champions Trophy.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Niranjan Shah told Reuters on Tuesday president Sharad Pawar had written to ICC chief Percy Sonn.

"Our president has shown some concern," he said. "There was a lot of controversy and there are certain issues like crowd behaviour etc. We wanted to avoid unnecessary incidents."

Pakistan have already asked the ICC to drop Hair, a member of the elite umpires' panel, from the tournament in India between October 7 and November 5 after his role in last month's fourth test against England at The Oval.

The Pakistan team forfeited the match after refusing to take the field in protest following a decision by Hair and fellow umpire Billy Doctrove to change the ball and penalise them five runs for alleged ball-tampering.

An ICC spokesman in Dubai confirmed a letter had been sent but added: "It is up to the ICC to appoint the best umpires and officials which we will do in due course."

Hair will attend a two-day ICC hearing starting at The Oval on Wednesday to consider charges of ball tampering and bringing the game into disrepute against Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq.