Darrell Hair
The 53-year-old Australian who will be one of the umpires for the first Test at Lahore is -– to put it mildly -- not a favourite on the Indian subcontinent.
He is the man who called ace Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan a 'chucker' in 1995.
A year later, Indians felt crucial decisions from Hair went against them in the two Test matches he officiated in the England series.
In 1999, then Indian coach Kapil Dev got into a war of words with Hair. It began with the former North Sydney fast bowler walking up to Ajit Agarkar when the Mumbai medium pacer expressed disappointment at a decision.
Then, when a television replay showed Hair's colleague was wrong with another decision, the burly Australian reportedly warned then Indian captain Sourav Ganguly: 'You are not supposed to watch replays and make gestures. The Pakistanis did it and now if you do it you will get into trouble.' Ganguly's explanation fell on deaf ears.
The racism word was raised in the post-match verbal duel that followed between the Indians and the umpire. Who raised the word first is still debatable.
It is thought that the subcontinent's complaints played a big role in the Australian umpire being left out of the International Cricket Council's 'elite panel' of umpires when it was first constituted in 2002.
Pakistan wanted Hair out of this series with India after the official adjudged Inzamam-ul Haq run out and warned openers Salman Butt and leg-spinner Danish Kaneria for running on the pitch in the last Autralia-Pakistan series.
Courtesy :
http://in.rediff.com/cricket/2006/jan/12hair.htm
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