Thaindian News

Sydney, Feb 4 (IANS) Controversial former Australian Test umpire Darrell Hair has dubbed Shahid Afridi a serial cheat.
Afridi was caught biting the seam off the ball in the fifth and last One-day International (ODI) in Perth Sunday and was banned for two Twenty20 games for ball tampering.

“Cheat is the only word for him,” Hair was quoted as saying in Daily Telegraph.

“He has cheated before, he has cheated in this instance - he pleaded guilty - and I’m sure he will again. He is no angel. I remember that incident when he deliberately scratched the pitch when he thought everyone was looking the other way.

“He thought he would get away with it … Unfortunately he’s become a highly over-rated player as well. His first innings at international level was a great century but he has lived off that and never really lived up to it.”

Hair was effectively run out of the game for several years by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after reporting Pakistan for ball tampering in a Test against England at The Oval in 2006 but doesn’t see this week’s outcome as vindication.

“I think it’s interesting that the same man (match referee Ranjan Madugalle) who flew from a few thousand miles away after the event to find the Pakistanis not guilty at The Oval has found Afridi guilty in Perth when he is on the spot,” he said.

The Pakistan side refused to return to the field after tea on the fourth day of The Oval Test and Hair and fellow umpire Billy Doctrove declared the game a forfeit, prompting a storm of objection from the Asian bloc.