Hyderabad: Umpires are the heartbeat of any cricket game, after all it’s in their hand to declare anyone out of the pitch or giving him a ‘sixer’. Although, each and every decision of umpires have a noteworthy effect on the game but even they can’t be right always as they are also human beings and prone to make mistakes.
However, there are some of the umpires have made headlines due to their controversial or poor decisions which have even turned game lots of time. So, check out the top five controversial cricket umpires of all time.
Steve Bucknor
At his peak, Steve was recognized as one of the best umpires Cricket has ever seen but his interactions with Asian teams were considered less than professional.
Steve was widely known for his long deliberations before making decisions, for which he earned the nickname "Slow Death." He was a good umpire until age had caught up on him and he started making some terrible decisions on the field.
One doesn’t need to be an ardent cricket fan to remember the number of times Steve gave Sachin Tendulkar out erroneously.
Bucknor even disgraced Rahul Dravid by mimicking him for which the West Indian was fined 50 percent of his match fees.
Bucknor’s streak of poor decision against Asian Teams (majorly India), had started from 1992 and lasted till 2008.
Bucknor’s nadir came in the 2008 during India tour of Australia when the Indian team demanded that the Jamaican be replaced for the series after the visitors lost the second Test of the series in the final ten minutes of the 5th day, owing to the number of umpiring mistakes made by Bucknor.
After receiving numerous complaints, ICC finally stepped in and decided that Steve will not stand in the third cricket Test between Australia and India in Perth.
Bucknor finally retired in 2009 after officiating in 128 Tests and 181 ODIs.
Darell Hair
Australia’s Darell Hair might have been a long-standing umpire with a solid history of good decision making in big games but on the sub-continent, particularly in Sri Lanka, he was known for his harsh decisions and stirring big controversies.
In a 1995 match between Australia and Sri lanka in Melbourne, he no-balled Muttiah Muralitharan seven times in three overs for throwing. The incident was enough for the Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga to leave the field along with his team in disgust.
It should be noted that as per the ICC rules, any suspect action was to be reported to the Match referee than calling it immediately on the field like Darrell Hair did.
In 1999 Hair was found guilty by the ICC of bringing the game into disrepute after he described Muralitharan's action as "diabolical[h1] ". [h2] The Australian later received death threats that referenced the throwing incident and as a result the ICC decreed that he would not officiate any of Sri Lanka’s matches at the 1999 World Cup.
In 2006, Hair was involved in one of the biggest ever on-field controversies, during a Test match between England and Pakistan at the Oval. In the match, Darrell and Billy Doctrove ruled that Pakistani team tampered the ball and then Hair signalled for 5 penalty runs and asked for replacement of the ball.
In protest the Pakistani players refused to take the field after the tea break. After 30 minutes the umpires removed the bails and declared England winners by forfeiture. It was the first forfeit in the history of Test cricket.
Following the incident, Hair was removed from the ICC Test panel of Elite Umpires but was restored two years later after dropping the racial discrimination suit against the ICC. He retired in 2008.
Shakoor Rana
Pakistani umpire Shakoor Rana was one of the most controversial umpires in 90’s. During a Test match at Faisalabad in 1987 played between Pakistan and England, Rana was involved in a heated argument with English skipper Mike Gatting.
During the second day of the Test, Rana accused Gatting of cheating as he founded the English captain changing the fielding position as bowler ran into bowl. Following the accusation, Rana and Gatting got into a heated argument which even halted the match. Things got ugly as they were seen waving fingers at each other in rage and the whole TV audience could hear the foul language used by them through stump mic.
However, Gatting had to issue an apology later as the former Pakistani umpire threatened to leave the Test match in between.
Noticeably, Rana was even wearing Pakistani sweater and cap during the match and it was not taken too well by England players.
Ashoka de Silva
Commentators and fans called him "Ashocker" DeSilva, probably explains it all. The former-leg spinner from Sri Lanka who turned umpire produced howlers with remarkable consistency.
In 2003, Da Silva was in the crosshairs of the Australian team after several poor decisions during the Caribbean tour.
After giving a couple of howlers in Guyana, Ashoka poor umpiring continued in the second Test match as well as he adjudged Matthew Hayden leg-before-wicket even when it was clearly visible that the ball had pitched outside the leg-stump. The incident prompted commentator Ian Bishop to say that “He would be slightly embarrassed when he sees the replay”.
But it was the World Cup of 2011, when Ashoka was removed from adjudicating on important matches by the ICC as his rate was less than 50 per cent and most of his decisions were overturned by the DRS.
Asad Rauf
Pakistan’s Asad Rauf was one of the best umpires in the cricket history before 2012. However, couple of incidents changed his life forever.
In 2012, Rauf was involved in off-field scandal as he was accused by a Delhi-based model Leena Kapoor of sexual harassment.
Leena claimed that Asad had sexually exploited her and had promised to marry her. She even leaked some of their intimate pictures on social media. However, Leena later took back her complaint.
But a year later, Asad was involved in one of the biggest on-field scandals as he was charged by the Mumbai Police of cheating, betting and forgery as the IPL spot-fixing saga 2013 unveiled. Subsequently ICC sacked him from the 2013 Champions League Trophy in England.
