Cricket itihaas mein aaj ka din| 20th August Today Throwback| Cricket controversy 20 August When Pakistan lost against England in first forfeited test match in 2006 at Oval| ENG vs PAK 2006 Oval test match| Ball tampering and Inzamam ul Haq ban|

Pakistani cricket has been in controversies many times and this trend continues even today. But there was one cricket match in cricket history that would probably top the category of most controversial matches. That match was the Test match between Pakistan and England played at the Oval in 2006. The Pakistani team was on a tour of England during that time and the fourth match of the Test series was being played at The Oval. Then something happened in this match which created panic in the cricket world.

In that match, the English team was all out for 173 runs in the first innings. In response, the Pakistani team batted brilliantly and scored 504 runs on the back of a century from Mohammad Yousuf as well as 90-plus innings from openers Mohammad Hafeez and Imran Farhat. After this, when the England team came out to answer Pakistan in the second innings, their batsmen batted well and scored 298 runs for the loss of 4 wickets. Then something happened that sparked controversy.

Pakistan team refused to take the field

On the fourth day of that Test, the Pakistani team was put in the dock by umpire Darrell Harper when he was found guilty of ball tampering. Along with imposing a penalty of five runs on him, the ball also had to be changed. Pakistan became so frustrated and angry with their stealing that on the fourth day, Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq refused to take the field with his team.

Come on the field when the mind is cold, but…

It was captain Inzamam-ul-Haq’s decision to stop the players from going on the field in the dressing room. But after some time he started realizing that he was making a big mistake. Suddenly he reversed his decision and went on the field to play with the players again, but by then it was too late.

Such a decision came for the first time in Test cricket, everyone was stunned

By the time the Pakistan team arrived on the field, Darrell Heyer and Billy Doctrove, as well as match referee Mike Procter, had declared the match over and it was also announced that England were declared winners. Has been done. The Pakistani team was completely stunned. This was the first time in the history of Test cricket that a team had given victory to the opposing team without playing the entire match. All this happened under the rules of the ICC and the Pakistani team was completely unaware of these rules.

A month passed and the decision came about Inzamam

The match was over but the controversy did not cool down. The Pakistan Cricket Board kept putting its full emphasis in this controversy. But it was going to take a toll on him. Suddenly a month later, a meeting of the International Cricket Council (ICC) took place, after which it was announced that the result of that Test match would not be changed, but Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq was found guilty of insulting the game by not taking the field. And he was banned for four ODIs.

Suddenly the twist came after 2 years, the decision was reversed

Of course, the ICC did not pay attention to the Pakistan Cricket Board, but the PCB remained adamant and after all the meetings and discussions, the International Cricket Council (ICC) reversed the decision of that match after two years. The disputed Test match played at the Oval was removed from the winning account of England by the ICC and declared it a draw.

Changed the decision again next year

The Pakistan Cricket Board and their team had just been able to breathe a sigh of relief that the decision was reversed again the next year after the ICC’s decision to draw. In fact, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the custodian of cricket laws and regulations, gave its suggestions to the ICC. After seeing the rules and changing it once again, the ICC again overturned the decision. Considering the decision of the umpires and the match referee to be correct, England were once again declared the winners. The result of any match in international cricket has not been postponed so much, has not changed so many times.