Former India spinner Maninder Singh on Thursday, 8th August, revealed the biased umpiring during India’s tour to Pakistan in 1982-83. This tour was Maninder's debut Test series, where he was denied wickets by former Pakistani umpire Shakoor Rana.
The left-arm spinner further revealed that the team was instructed to not go against the decisions on the field for the sake of diplomatic relations between the two arch-rivals.
Maninder told ESPNCricinfo, “Before the Pakistan tour we were told that relations are not very good between the countries. There was a proper class taken, telling us that when a decision goes against you, you have to keep quiet, because we don’t want to spoil diplomatic relations.”
He continued, “I played five out of the six Tests, got only three wickets. Because it was their umpires, there was no chance of getting lbw, caught-behind, caught at silly point.
Nothing. At one stage, I appealed for a catch at silly point against Saleem Malik, and late Shakoor Rana sahab said, “Aaja, aaja, ethe sirf bowled kar, ethe ohiyeo wicket milegi.” (Come back, you need to get batsmen bowled, that’s the only way you’ll get a dismissal here.).”
Noteworthy, Maninder ended the Pakistan series with just 3 wickets from five Test matches, while the hosts won the 6-match Test series 3-0 against India.
Maninder went on to take 88 wickets in Test cricket, while he also picked up 66 wickets in 59 ODIs for India. He also has over 600 wickets to his name in first-class cricket.
(With ESPNCricinfo Inputs)
