ON THIS DAY
Follow UsPakistan umpire Shakoor Rana has gone down as one of the most provocative match officials in the history of cricket for his relentless on-field antics. Though he wasn’t “The World's Worst Umpire”, as a publication once described him, Rana excelled in making everything about himself as he loved making headlines.
He succeeded historically as well when his on-field animated spat with England’s Mike Gatting became one of the most iconic images in cricket history. Such was the impact of the image that ambassadors of cricket used it to promote the game in non-cricket-playing nations.
Coming from a cricketing family, where two of his brothers represented Pakistan in Test cricket while another became a junior national selector, Shakoor Rana’s career was comparatively a forgotten one where he wasn’t even in the regular eleven in the domestic circuit. Perhaps this was the reason he chose the unusual path to stardom through umpiring.
England were touring Pakistan in 1987-88 for three ODIs and as many Tests, and Rana had already become a notorious figure by then. His first tryst with controversy happened back in 1978 when India was touring after 17 long years.
However, Rana, being himself, wanted the spotlight on himself rather than the momentous series and courted a fiasco when he warned Mohinder Amarnath of his extended run onto the danger area of the sacred pitch. A fuming India vice-captain, Sunil Gavaskar, had accused Rana of his double standards as the umpire had decided to keep shut when Pakistan’s Sarfaraz Nawaz did the same.
It was followed by another scandalous series in 1984, with New Zealand touring Pakistan this time. In the Kiwi skipper Jeremy Coney, cricket had a cheerful lad who was one of the gentlemen of the game. However, a provocative Rana had managed to get under his skin as well after he controversially gave Javed Miandad not out. An angry Coney had threatened to boycott the game as a consequence.
However, these minor incidents were just a buildup to the second Test match between Pakistan and England. The visitors had lost the first Test, followed by a string of controversial decisions by umpire Shakeel Khan. When Rana couldn’t contribute much to Pakistan’s cause through umpiring, he managed to annoy English players by wearing a Pakistan sweater.
Hence, the visitors were already miffed coming to the second Test and managed to tally 292 runs in the first innings. Pakistan started poorly and was playing 77/5 on Day 2, December 8, 1987, when English skipper Gatting asked David Capel to take his position at deep square leg to stop singles.
However, just as Eddie Hemmings went on to bowl, leg-umpire Rana shouted to stop the play by declaring it a dead ball. Rana alleged Gatting was unlawfully changing the field after the bowler had started his run-up, while Gatting argued he was asking his fielder to stop moving. Pakistan batsman Salim Mailk even defended Gatting while Rana stood his ground.
Cameras caught an intense argument between the two while the stump mic recorded expletives of the altercation. Gatting didn’t understand why a leg umpire had to get involved in this debate, while Rana refused the game to go on until Gatting apologised. The entire play of Day 3 was suspended, with British ambassador Sir Nicholas Barrington stepping in to end the stand-off.
Gatting eventually apologised to Rana, and his captaincy was taken away as Barrington believed it could have resulted in “a great deal of ill-will in Pakistan towards Britain and could have damaging financial and legal consequences.”
After the Test eventually ended in a draw, English players wanted to return home without finishing the series, but they were convinced to stay by the Test and County Cricket Board, who paid every player a £1000 ‘bonus’. The third Test, which was drawn as well, didn’t see Rana on the field, as Pakistan won the series 1-0 after a 3-0 whitewash in the ODIs.
