Having been accused of ball-tampering and penalised for the same, the Inzamam-ul-Haq-led Pakistan team forfeited a Test match against England at the Oval in 2006. It was a first such instance in the 129-year history of Test cricket.

Almost 15 years on, Inzamam recalled the incident on his YouTube channel, stating that he took the decision for his country.

Notably, Inzamam had refused to lead his side back on to the pitch following a decision to reward England five penalty runs for alleged ball-tampering. As a result, the match was called as a forfeit in England’s favour.

Darrell Hair had taken the ball-tampering decision and Inzamam accused the former Australian umpire of being a little biased against the Pakistan cricket team.

“He felt that the ball was tampered and awarded five runs to the opposition. And as per ICC rules, it meant we were proved guilty of doing it. So I went up to Darrell Hair and asked him what exactly was wrong with the ball,” Inzamam said.

“As per ICC rule the umpire informs a player if he’s guilty before awarding those five runs. However, I was not informed.”

“Then I decided that I cannot lead a team like this and waited 15-20 minutes to show everyone the entire team protested against the decision.”

“Hair too refused to come out in the field and continue with the match,” he added.

The former Pakistan skipper also hinted that he would have continued with the match had the third umpire stepped up if Hair refused to continue further.

“I feel that if Hair refused the third umpire should have continued with the match from there. But the umpires are selected by ICC for their events, so ICC backed him,” he remarked.

According to Inzamam, Pakistan cricket team was at the receiving end of Hair’s decisions on many occasions.

In fact, the PCB chairman had also written to the ICC a month before requesting them not to select Hair for the series.

“Pakistan team were not happy with Darrell Hair officiating the matches then. The board chief had then written to ICC to look into the matter, a month before the series. However, Harper was the umipre in two-three matches.”

“I feel if the chairman of the board is writing to you then you must listen to its complaint,” Inzamam said.

Mentioning the controversial decisions when Darrell Hair was officiating matches involving Pakistan, Inzamam said, “During a match against England in Faisalabad, his decision on Salman Butt and Younis Khan were very controversial.”

“He had also adjudged me out, when a fielder threw the ball towards me and I used my bat for protection in another game. Since I was not present in my crease at that moment he had given me out.”