One of the First Neutral Umpires in the History of International Cricket, Piloo Reporter, Dies at Age 89

Piloo Reporter, one of the first two impartial umpires in the annals of international cricket, died away on Sunday in Mumbai at the age of 89 from sickness.

IANS reported that the reporter had cerebral contusion sickness and was being cared after at home by his wife and two children.

Apart from the 14 Test matches and 22 ODIs that Reporter officiated in, another competition that he officiated in was the 1992 World Cup, which was held in Australia and New Zealand. In the 1992 World Cup, Reporter was the only Indian umpire, and he was renowned for his quick signaling of a boundary.

The 1986 Test match between Pakistan and the West Indies in Lahore was more significant for Reporter since it was the first time a “neutral” umpire officiated an international cricket match. He presided over the game along with fellow Indian VK Ramaswamy.

Imran Khan, the Pakistani captain, proposed the modification to ease worries about the alleged prejudice of the local umpires.

Before formalizing it two years later, the ICC experimented with one impartial umpire in Test cricket in 1992. During England’s tours of India in 1984, the reporter began officiating games in Delhi. He was never afraid to speak his mind while speaking to prominent cricketers like Malcolm Marshall, Viv Richards, and Imran Khan.

He said, “Umpiring is a job very much like policing traffic,” in an interview with Mid-Day in 1987. The game and the traffic both need to move.