A
sport is never limited to or defined by only the players who play the sport.
The commentators, broadcasters, and viewers are of immense value to all sports
as well. However, one aspect not many talks about is umpiring.
Almost
all sports have an umpire or referee whose primary job is to ensure smooth
proceedings of the game and make all important decisions as well. With the
technology that has come in, their roles may have been minimized but they remain
an integral and respectful part of sports, especially cricket. However, all
umpires haven’t had the best of careers. Here are the top 5 most controversial
cricket umpires ever
5.
Steve Bucknor(West Indies)
As
one of the most contentious umpires in the history of the sport, Steve Bucknor
terminated his career. In 1989, West Indies and India played in an ODI,
Bucknor's maiden international match. Despite his inexperience, he was granted
the chance to officiate in the 1992 World Cup and even participated in the
finals. After that, from 1996 through 2007, he served as an umpire at the World
Cups.
Despite
having a pretty illustrious career, he made some bad mistakes that made
headlines, none more so than the one he made about Sachin Tendulkar of India.
In the notorious 2007–2008 India Border Gavaskar Test series, he served as one
of the umpires. In the 2nd Test in Sydney, there were as many as seven disputed
and wrong decisions made, all of which were taken against India. He was also
one of the umpires who decided to allow play to continue in the 2007 World Cup
finals despite the darkness.
4.
Darrell Hair (Australia)
Beginning
in 1992, Darrell Hair officiated 139 ODIs and 78 Test matches until quitting in
2008. In 1995, during a match between Sri Lanka and Australia, Hair caused his
first significant controversy when he no-balled Muttiah Muralitharan seven
times in three overs for allegedly throwing the ball. The captain of Sri Lanka,
Arjuna Ranatunga, wasn't amused by the charge and marched off the pitch with
his squad before coming back later. The International Criminal Court (ICC)
found Hair guilty in 1999 for calling Muralitharan's actions
"diabolical."
The
second incident happened in 2006 when Billy Doctrove and Hair accused Pakistan
of tampering with the ball on the fourth day of a test match between Pakistan
and England. They then offered to replace the current ball and gave England 5
penalty runs. Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistani captain, became enraged at this,
and the squad refused to take the pitch after the tea break. After 30 minutes,
the umpires moved the bails, controversially handing England the match. This
was the first time in the history of the game that a match was won by forfeit.
3.
Asad Rauf (Pakistan)
One of the most well-known and excellent umpires, Asad Rauf, had his career end abruptly and in controversy in 2016. Off-field transgressions rather than on-field mistakes caused the end. Rauf officiated his first ODI in 2000, and in 2004 he was elevated to the ICC Elite Umpire Panel. He proceeded to perform well year after year, often making the right choices. In all, he participated in 49 tests, 98 ODIs, and 23 T20Is.
Rauf's
first encounter with trouble occurred at the beginning of 2013 when a model
from Delhi accused him of sexual harassment. Later, she abandoned the
accusations, but Rauf's image undoubtedly suffered. When Rauf's name was
mentioned in connection with unlawful betting, cheating, and fraud in the
continuing IPL spot-fixing controversy the same year, his life was flipped
upside down. Although he first denied the accusations, he was later found
guilty in 2016 and given a 5-year suspension.
2.
Kumar Dharmasena(Sri Lanka)
Kumar,
one of the current crop of young umpires, has avoided any controversy off the
pitch during his tenure. Even though he was an umpire for most of his career,
his record was decent. In 2009, Dharmasena began his debut as an umpire by
officiating a game between India and Sri Lanka. His quick development led to
his selection as the 2012 ICC Awards' Umpire of the Year. The 2011 World Cup,
2015 World Cup, and 2016 T20 World Cup finals were officiated by him.
Dharamsena
has had difficulties with the DRS despite his stellar track record. Famously, 8
of Dharamsena's 16 rulings in a Test match between Bangladesh and England in
2016 were reversed, the highest percentage of any umpire. He had a significant
World Cup controversy in 2019. Dharamsena made a terrible error in a
nail-biting final that ended in a super over. Ben Stokes' diving bat caused the
ball to deflect and go to the boundary during the regular game with 9 required out
of 4. When just five should have been called, Dharmasena indicated six runs.
In
addition to giving England an additional run, this error ensured that Ben
Stokes would keep the strike. As they say, the rest is history. Dharmasena
received harsh criticism for this error, but he maintained his position and
made it quite obvious that he didn't regret his choice
1.
Mark Benson (England)
Benson,
who teamed up with Steve Bucknor in the controversial India-Australia Test, had
a very brief career as an umpire. He participated in 72 ODIs and 27 Tests. From
his first year as an umpire in 2004, Benson had a lot of potentials. He was
even nominated for the Umpire of the Year award in 2007. However, due to that
one shameful match, everything came tumbling down.
Although
there were several bad calls in that match, the one when Benson questioned
Australian captain Ricky Ponting whether he had caught a ball that seemed to be
hitting the ground stands out. Ponting said that he did without hesitation, and
Benson made no effort to exercise his judgment to verify it. It turns out that
the catch wasn't a clean one. Benson was terrified that the DRS and his judgments
would be reversed. As a result, he decided to retire from his position as an
international umpire in 2009.
Written by Venkata Kishore Sreemalle
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