Maninder Singh
Maninder Singh (Credits: Getty)

Former India spinner Maninder Singh has revealed some shocking details about India’s tour of Pakistan in 1982-83. It was Maninder Singh’s first series and he did not have a good experience as far as the umpiring was concerned. Maninder, who went on to represent India in 35 Tests, revealed some startling details about biased umpiring during a recent interview.

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It was a tough debut series for the spinner. In five Tests of the six-match series, he managed to pick up only three wickets to start his career in an ineffective manner. However, the stats do not really tell the entire story. Maninder said that it was something that he and the rest of the team was prepared for.

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Maninder Singh
Maninder Singh (Credits: Getty)

Maninder said that the players were ready for the tough treatment from the hosts. He then lifted the lid on the biased umpiring from the local umpires.

“Before the Pakistan tour we were told that relations are not very good between the countries. There was a proper class taken, telling us that when a decision goes against you, you have to keep quiet, because we don’t want to spoil diplomatic relations.

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“I played five out of the six Tests, got only three wickets. Because it was their umpires, there was no chance of getting lbw, caught-behind, caught at silly point. Nothing. At one stage, I appealed for a catch at silly point against Saleem Malik, and late Shakoor Rana sahab said, “Aaja, aaja, ethe sirf bowled kar, ethe ohiyeo wicket milegi.” (Come back, you need to get batsmen bowled, that’s the only way you’ll get a dismissal here.), Maninder said.

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Pakistan had gone on to win the series by 3-0.  Maninder Singh, however, went on to improve his record after picking up just 3 wickets in his first five Tests. In the next 31 games, he picked up 85 more wickets to finish his international career with 88 scalps to his name. He has over 600 wickets to his name in first-class cricket and picked up 66 wickets in 59 ODIs for India.