Top 5 controversial cricket umpires of all time

#4 Darrel Hair

The former Australian umpire Darrel Hair

Ever since his umpiring debut in 1991, Darrel Hair was involved in many controversies for his dubious decisions. He was renowned for his harsh calls, especially against Asian countries.

In a Test match in Australia, Hair no-balled Muthiah Muralitharan seven times for alleged chucking in a space of three overs. Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga left the field with his team in utter disgust, though they returned after a short while.

According to ICC rules, an umpire must report a suspect action of a bowler to the match referee rather than calling it on the field which Hair did. He even termed Murali’s action as “diabolical”.

He was involved in one of the biggest ever on-field controversies, during a Test match between England and Pakistan at the Oval in 2006. On field umpires, Billy Doctrove and Darrel Hair charged the Pakistan cricket team for ball tampering and awarded England five penalty runs and also asked for a change of ball.

The infuriated Pakistan team didn’t take the field after the tea interval and the match was awarded to England after thirty minutes. It was the first ever forfeiture in a Test match since Test cricket’s inception in 1877. Hair finally retired as an international umpire in 2008.