5 times when umpires were the talking point in cricket matches

Cricket is known as a fierce battle between bat and ball, and both teams fight tooth and nail to get on top of each other. It’s the numbers on the scoresheets that put forth the development in the game. However, there have been instances when cricket wasn’t the most talked-about point in a match. At times, the umpires hog the headlines due to various reasons even as cricket takes a backseat. Cricket and controversies have gone hand in hand on a number of occasions. The umpires have been involved in quite a few of them as well. They make mistakes due to which they have to face loads of criticism. The match officials are always under the pump to deliver in crunch moments. The players have shown their displeasure as well over several calls made by the umpires and situations have turned ugly. In the article, let’s take a look at five matches when the umpires grabbed the limelight more than cricket 1. India vs Australia, Sydney Test, 2007-08 Steve Bucknor. (Photo by Julian Herbert/Getty Images) Apart from the Monkeygate scandal between Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds, the 2007-08 Test between India and Australia was a witness to atrocious umpiring. The visitors were at the receiving end at the Sydney Cricket Ground and lost the game by 122 runs. Mark Benson and Steve Bucknor were the on-field umpires and they had to face a lot of brickbats for their poor umpiring. Andrew Symonds got a reprieve when he was on 30 after Bucknor failed to spot an outside edge. The batter went on to score an unbeaten 162 and also won the Player of the Match award. In the fourth innings, Rahul Dravid fell prey to a horrendous call when he was batting on 38 runs with six fours. After he got out, India lost their last six wickets for a mere 95 runs while chasing 333 runs. Later Bucknor admitted the mistakes he made. 2. England vs Pakistan, Oval Test, 2006 Umpire Darrell Hair. (Photo by Tom Shaw/Getty Images) The 2006 Test between England and Pakistan had its fair share of controversies. The match at the Kennington Oval in London ended in a bizarre way after the visitors forfeited the game. Darrel Hair, one of the on-field umpires, took the decision of ball-tampering against Pakistan. He awarded five penalty runs to Pakistan on the fourth day’s play. Thereafter, Inzamam-ul-Haq refused to lead his team back on the field. 20 minutes later, the umpires awarded the match to the home team. Later Pakistan showed their willingness to play, but the umpires insisted that the result must stand. Back in 2020, after nearly 15 years Inzamam stated that he took the decision for his country. He also talked about the controversial moments Hair had with the Pakistan team over the years. It was the first fortified Test in 1814 matches. 3. RR vs CSK- IPL 2019 MS Dhoni. (Photo Source: Twitter) Back in April 2019, Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings were involved in a thrilling contest at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. The game went right down to the last ball when CSK chased down 152 with four wickets in hand. MS Dhoni, the Super Kings’ skipper, was the Player of the Match. But he was also involved in a controversy for which he was fined 50 per cent of his match fees. In the last over of the game, Ben Stokes bowled a full-toss and the umpire signalled it a no-ball. However, Bruce Oxenford at square leg reckoned that it was a legal delivery. Ravindra Jadeja and Mitchell Santner, the two batters in the middle, got into an argument with the umpires. Dhoni also charged in from the dugout and entered into a heated discussion with the match officials. Later, Dhoni had admitted to breaching the tournament’s Code of Conduct. 4. Bangladesh vs West Indies, 3rd T20I, 2018 Carlos Brathwaite. (Photo Source: Twitter) West Indies and Bangladesh got involved in a heated argument during a match back in December 2018. Though the Caribbean team won the game by 50 runs, their then skipper Carlos Brathwaite wasn’t happy with an umpiring decision. In the fourth over of the home team’s innings, Bangladesh umpire Tanvir Ahmed called a no-ball when Liton Das chipped a catch to Shimron Hetmyer off Oshane Thomas. But replays showed that Thomas’ delivery was legal after which Brathwaite and his teammates became furious. The captain asked for a review and talked with match referee Jeff Crowe. Later, the decision was upheld as the rules didn’t allow a review against an on-field no-ball call. In the second game of the series, the same umpire called a wide after Shakib Al Hasan edged the ball to Shai Hope. 5. Sri Lanka vs England, 1998-99 Muttiah Muralitharan. (Photo by Tom Shaw/Getty Images) During an ODI between Sri Lanka and England back in January 1999, Muttiah Muralitharan found himself in a bit of a controversy. The umpiring duo of Tony McQuillan and Ross Emerson called the off-spinner for throwing. It was the same set of umpires, who called the tweaker during a tri-nation series in 1995-96. Murali had to miss the rest of the tournament and had to come back with a remodelled action. However, in 1999, skipper Arjuna Ranatunga was seen in a heated argument with umpire Emerson. The fact that the ICC had cleared Murali went against the umpire. Thereafter, Ranatunga led his players off the field while protesting against the umpires. In the end, Ranjith Fernando, manager of the Sri Lankan team, convinced Ranatunga to carry on with the match. Emerson, on the other hand, wasn’t allowed to officiate in the rest of the matches.

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5 times when umpires were the talking point in cricket matches

The match officials are always under the pump to deliver in crunch moments.

4. Bangladesh vs West Indies, 3rd T20I, 2018

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