Pakistan allrounder Faheem Ashraf has made a huge revelation on the sidelines of the Champions Cup, admitting that friendship with umpires saves players in domestic cricket where they often exchange phone numbers.
Talking about the umpiring standards in Pakistan, Ashraf, who has appeared in 17 Tests and is playing for the Dolphins in the Champions Cup, said that there are no good umpires left in Pakistan's domestic circuit.
"All the good umpires in Pakistan are gone (umpiring at higher level) from domestic cricket," he replied to a question related to the poor standard of umpiring in the ongoing one-day tournament in the country.
"Umpiring in domestic cricket is also like this (poor) but because there is no TV coverage, no one has the idea...Now (with the Champions Cup) everyone knows at what level umpiring is in Pakistan. Good or bad, everyone knows now...Those who are appointing them have to see now who should be umpiring at what level," said Ashraf.
The right-arm medium-pacer, who bats left-handed, went on to reveal that favours are exchanged between players and umpires in domestic cricket.
"In domestic cricket, players are friends with umpires, so they get saved or umpires take their (phone) numbers. I am talking straight," he said.
"But there is no friendship here (in the Champions Cup) because everything is on the (TV) screen. Everybody is watching," said the 30-year-old all-rounder who has also played 34 ODIs and 48 T20Is.
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