Due to disagreement between the players and the umpire on the field, the debate has been seen many times but the dispute between the captain of England and the umpire of Pakistan went a long way.
Mike Gatting and Shakur Rana clashed on the middle ground. (File Pic)
Cricket is called Gentleman’s game. But many times this game has also become infamous. The reason for this has been the battles on the field. Sometimes the players fight with each other and sometimes they clash with the umpire. It is common for players to disagree with the umpires’ decisions on the cricket field, but once there was such an uproar that a player went to the extent of hitting the umpire and the day’s play had to be called off. This player was Mike Gatting of England and the umpire was Shakur Rana of Pakistan. This controversy took place in the Test match which started on this day i.e. 8th December.
The match was played between Pakistan and England from 8 to 12 December 1987 in Faisalabad, Pakistan. This was the second Test match of the series in which Shakur Rana was umpiring. His image was used in spoiled umpires and in this match also there was a debate with his gating which increased a lot.
this led to a fight
The game of the second day of the match was about to end. In such a situation, Gatting, who was the captain at that time, handed over the ball to off-spinner Eddie Hemmings. Hemmings was about to throw the ball that Gatting wanted to change the fielding and started changing the long on fielder. Only then the umpire Rana standing at square leg stopped the bowler, but by then he had thrown the ball. Rana termed this ball as a dead ball. The England captain got angry with Rana’s decision and went to the umpire to ask what happened. Rana said that you were trying to distract the attention of the batsman by shaking hands and this is cheating, so this ball was called a dead ball.
Gatting explained to the umpire that he was signaling the fielder to stay in place. On this Rana got angry and started returning to his place and he said some abusive words to Gatting. Hearing this, Gatting lost his temper and reached the umpire. There was an argument between the two. In such a situation, the rest of the England players intervened and ended the debate. The controversy did not end here. When the game started on the third day, Rana did not come to umpiring.
Gatting apologized
Meanwhile, Rana had put forward a demand of his own. He said that Gatting should apologize to him. Gatting did not do this and the third day’s play had to be cancelled. After this the England Cricket Board held a meeting. After this meeting Gatting wrote an apology on a piece of paper and then the game started. However, the result of this match could not be known. The match ended in a draw.
Mike Gatting’s hand written apology to Shakoor Rana which allowed the infamous Faisalabad Test of December 1987 to continue. Gatting had insisted he would apologize if the umpire also did but in the end he was ordered to do so by the England board. pic.twitter.com/AAowER2JjL
— Historic Cricket Pictures (@PictureSporting) October 10, 2020
Although Gatting was already angry with Rana because Rana was wearing a Pakistan sweater while umpiring in the first Test match. Apart from this, Gatting was also angry about some of his decisions. England had complained against this but still Rana was elected umpire in the second match.
Source: www.tv9hindi.com