allright, Lets begin the cricketing season at KK… and b4 the ICC cup gets into final stages, talk about some famous Phadaaz in cricket…
from Body line to Aaalo…from Trevor Chappell’s under-arm delivery to Ranatuga’staking the players out from Adelide…from javed Lillee incident to Manoj Prabhakar-Maninder Singh’s fisticuffs…lets Talk about the ** Good Exciteing Times** in the gentelmen’s game.
Mike Gatting Shakoor Rana Incident, 1987:
The Incident: Wanting to gain an extra over against the new batsman, Aamir Malik, Gatting brought off-spinner Eddie Hemmings on to bowl, and quickened things up further by informing Salim Malik, the striker, that he was bringing long leg up as Hemmings was about to bowl - as he was entitled to do as long as the batsman was aware of the move.
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Just as Hemmings started his run up, Gatting, at slip, signalled to Capel that he had come in far enough (again a legal gesture because it did not interfere with the batsman’s vision).
Shakoor Rana, the square leg umpire, thought otherwise.
Charging in from his position, Rana blustered: “Stop, stop” as the ball travelled through the air
Shakoor Rana, the square leg umpire, thought otherwise.
Charging in from his position, Rana blustered: “Stop, stop” as the ball travelled through the air
The other umpire, Khizar Khan, had the presence of mind to shout “dead ball”.
“You’re waving your hand. That’s cheating,” Rana told Gatting.
Being called a cheat was not something Gatting was prepared to accept and informed Rana that he was within his rights as the batsman knew of the move and it was, in any case, not his prerogative to instruct him how he should set his field.
The umpire turned to make back to square leg but let out, with no attempt to hide it from Gatting or the surrounding fielders, a burst of foul language.
It was now that Gatting snapped. The language he used was no better than Rana’s but the pictures of the incident, wired all around the world within hours, were the most unsavoury aspect of the confrontation.
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Rana’s View: Of the incident, Rana recalled: “Gatting moved a fielder behind the batsman which was against the law and when I called it a dead ball he abused me which was against the values of this gentleman’s game.”
He invoked Law 42 on the grounds of unfair play but the ensuing abusive confrontation between him and Gatting resulted in the loss of a day’s play in the Faisalabad Test. “When I told him that it was against the rules, Gatting retorted saying ‘We made the rules’,” Rana said.
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Gatting’s Views afterwards: Gatting was wrong, of course, to do what he did and readily acknowledges as much. , It wasn’t a very proud moment of my career," he said. “It is one of those things that has gone down in history. It will probably always be remembered.”
