Officiating in Indo-Pak matches was intimidating: Ian Gould

Former English umpire Ian Gould has revealed that officiating in India-Pakistan matches is intimidating because of the amount of crowd and support from wherever they play in the world.

“It’s intimidating. Not the players. The players are outstanding people. I’ve done seven, eight India-Pakistan games and the guys are really good people. They get on with each other,” he said in an interview with ESPNCricinfo.

Gould retired last year after the ICC 2019 World Cup after having stood in more than 250 international games including 7-8 India-Pakistan fixtures.

“If you allow a crowd to get to you, all that noise and Mexican waves, or whatever, can distract you. Then you start missing bits and pieces and it’s a difficult place to be,” he added.

Gould who also officiated the 2011 World Cup semi-final at Mohali in India recalled the incident last month while talking to BBC, where he gave Sachin Tendulkar out but it was overturned with the help of DRS. He still believes that Tendulkar was out.