Piloo Dara Reporter (24 September 1938 – 3 September 2023) was an Indian international

cricket umpire In cricket, an umpire (from the Old French ''nompere'' meaning not a peer, i.e. not a member of one of the teams, impartial) is a person who has the authority to make decisions about events on the cricket field according to the ''Laws of Cricket ...

who umpired in 14

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

and 22

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s in a career spanning three decades. He was among the first of the two neutral umpires, in modern cricket, when he officiated in a Test match between Pakistan and the West Indies in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

in 1986.

Biography

Reporter was born in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

on 24 September 1938. He started his career with the

Maharashtra State Electricity Board Maharashtra State Electricity Board (or MSEB) ( Marathi:महाराष्ट्र राज्य विद्युत मंडळ) is a state government electricity regulation board operating within the state of Maharashtra in India. The ...

. He responded to an advertisement by the then-

Bombay Cricket Association The Mumbai Cricket Association (formerly Bombay Cricket Association) is the governing body for cricket in Mumbai and surrounding regions such as Thane and Navi Mumbai. Its headquarter is situated at Cricket centre in Churchgate, Mumbai. It g ...

calling for umpires. He failed the tests initially, but, later made it as an umpire with the association and started by officiating as an umpire in the domestic circuit. His first match as an umpire in a domestic

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy (also known as Mastercard Ranji Trophy for sponsorship reasons) is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between multiple teams representing regional and state cricket associations. Board of Control for Cr ...

match was at the age of 29. In 1984, he made his international umpiring debut in both

and

one day international A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s (ODI), standing in 14 Tests and 22 ODI's until 1994. His first test match was in 1984 in Delhi, where he officiated the test between India and England, while his last test was also between the two teams, in Mumbai (then Bombay), in 1993. In 1986, Reporter and V.K. Ramaswamy became the first neutral umpires from India when they stood in a Test match featuring

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. This was the first time neutral umpires had officiated in a Test since 1912. They were invited by the Pakistan captain,

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...

after allegations of bias by Pakistani umpires. Reporter was the only Indian umpire to officiate in the

1992 Cricket World Cup The 1992 Cricket World Cup (officially the Benson & Hedges World Cup 1992) was the fifth staging of the Cricket World Cup, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was held in Australia and New Zealand from 22 February to 25 Mar ...

that was held in Australia and New Zealand. Reporter was from the

Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...

community and was known as "PD" in the cricketing fraternity. The method by which Reporter signalled a boundary had been called "Milkshake" by

cricket commentator __NOTOC_is a list of notable media commentators and writers on the sport of cricket from around the world. A number of famous players have had a second career as writers or commentators. However, many commentators never played the game at a prof ...

Henry Blofeld Henry Calthorpe Blofeld, Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 23 September 1939) nicknamed Blowers by Brian Johnston, is an English retired sports journalist, Sports presenter, broadcaster and amateur ornithologist best known as a cricket com ...

. His autobiography, ''An Umpire Remembers,'' was published by Rupa & Company in 2004. In 1993, Reporter was allegedly paid to give his assessment of the pitch prior to a test in Calcutta to bookie Mukesh Gupta.

Personal life

Reporter was married and had two daughters. His sister, Madhumati, was an actress in Bollywood movies and was a dancer.

Death

Reporter died on 3 September 2023, at age 84.Former International Umpire Piloo Reporter passes away aged 84
/ref> He had been diagnosed with a

cerebral contusion Cerebral contusion, Latin ''contusio cerebri'', a form of traumatic brain injury, is a bruise of the brain tissue. Like bruises in other tissues, cerebral contusion can be associated with multiple microhemorrhages, small blood vessel leaks into ...

earlier.

Book

References

External links

"The fearless Indian scourge of chucking"
by

V Ramnarayan Venkatraman Ramnarayan (born 8 November 1947, in Madras) is a former Indian first-class cricketer and current journalist, editor, translator and teacher. Cricket career An off-spin bowler, Ramnarayan left his native Tamil Nadu and moved to Hy ...