Former India captain and coach Kapil Dev lambasted umpire Darrell Hair for his handling of the controversial ball-tampering issue and said the ICC should penalise him if it takes action against Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq.
Kapil, who had his share of problems with Hair during his stint as the India coach, also did not spare Inzamam for refusing to take the field in the post-tea session after five runs were awarded to England for alleged ball-tampering by the Pakistan players.
"If Inzamam has to be fined, and penalised, then you have to make sure that the umpire and the referee should also be penalised. Because you don't clap with one hand," he said.
Kapil was convinced that Inzamam would regret his decision to walk out of the match.
"You can say we are playing under protest, but you cannot say I do not want to play. I think that is where the management will have to play a role, or perhaps a match referee has to play a bigger role. I was disappointed that the match was called-off like that," he was quoted as saying by NDTV.
Describing the ball-tampering row as the "biggest controversy of the century", he said "everybody is responsible for this controversy..."
The former all-rounder said Hair always had problems with players from the subcontinent.
"He is a good umpire. He wants to teach his way of game which is ICC's job. His umpiring is decent and no complaining. If he wants to teach how to play the game then he should retire as umpire and try to take [the] game in [a] different way.
"He always likes to enjoy the kick... fighting with the bigger players," he added.
