By BIPIN DANI
Mumbai, Feb. 2 : Darell Hair, the former International Cricket Council umpire, has expressed his amusement at match referee Ranjan Madugalle's decision to slap Pakistani star Shahid Afridi a two-match ban for his ball-tampering act on Sunday. Hair wondered why the same Sri Lankan match referee pardoned Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq when his team was accused of the same 'crime' against England at the Oval Test in 2006.
"It is interesting that Madugalle decided to impose a ban of two matches for ball-tampering on this occasion, but let Inzamam off at The Oval, particularly when he was thousands of miles away when the incident occurred. Quite obviously, he formed a flawed opinion and did not believe the umpires (Hair and Billy Doctrove) that the ball had been tampered with," said Hair from Sydney yesterday.
Hair also believed the two umpires in Perth on Sunday (Sri Lanka's Asoka de Silva and former Aussie paceman Paul Reiffel) erred by not consulting match referee Madugalle before changing the "tampered" ball. "A ball change cannot be done without first getting the approval of the ICC match referee," Hair emphasised.
"My opinion on what happened at The Oval in 2006 is well documented. We believed the ball had been tampered with and took appropriate action.
"Pakistan accepted the penalty and played on until the tea break when the then PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan intervened and told Inzamam not to continue the match," he signed off.
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