Afridi was caught biting the seam off the ball in the fifth and last One-day International (ODI) in Perth Sunday and was banned for two Twenty20 games for ball tampering.
“Cheat is the only word for him,” Hair was quoted as saying in Daily Telegraph.
“He has cheated before, he has cheated in this instance — he pleaded guilty — and I’m sure he will again. He is no angel. I remember that incident when he deliberately scratched the pitch when he thought everyone was looking the other way.
“He thought he would get away with it ... Unfortunately he’s become a highly over-rated player as well. His first innings at international level was a great century but he has lived off that and never really lived up to it.”
Hair was effectively run out of the game for several years by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after reporting Pakistan for ball tampering in a Test against England at The Oval in 2006 but doesn’t see this week’s outcome as vindication.
“I think it’s interesting that the same man (match referee Ranjan Madugalle) who flew from a few thousand miles away after the event to find the Pakistanis not guilty at The Oval has found Afridi guilty in Perth when he is on the spot,” he said.
The Pakistan side refused to return to the field after tea on the fourth day of The Oval Test and Hair and fellow umpire Billy Doctrove declared the game a forfeit, prompting a storm of objection from the Asian bloc.
Meanwhile, in Karachi, a committee investigating Pakistan’s humiliating whitewash in Australia will also probe the ball-tampering offense by Afridi, an official said Friday.
“The six-man evaluation committee will start work from next week and we have also included Afridi’s case in our terms of reference,” said Wasim Bari, head of the committee and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief operating officer.
The probe will examine Pakistan’s fateful 3-0 Test series defeat followed by a disastrous one-day series which the Australians won 5-0 on Sunday. Pakistan is playing the last match of the tour, a Twenty20 on Friday.
The other committee members are PCB governing board member Wazir Ali Khoja, former team manager Yawar Saeed, PCB director Zakir Khan, PCB legal adviser Tafazzul Rizvi and director of the national cricket academy Haroon Rasheed.
Afridi, leading Pakistan in the absence of touring captain Mohammad Yousuf, was caught on television cameras, twice grasping the ball and chewing the leather to change its condition, a serious offense in cricket.
Bari said Afridi’s foul was “unacceptable and we will look into the matter and make our recommendations.” He did not elaborate whether the all-rounder would face further punishment than the two-Twenty20 match ban imposed by International Cricket Council.
It was Afridi’s third offense. He was initially banned for a Test and two one-day internationals for deliberately damaging a pitch during the Faisalabad Test against England in 2005.
He was also banned for four one-day matches for trying to hit a spectator during Pakistan’s tour of South Africa in 2007.
Bari said the committee would summon team coach Intikhab Alam, manager Abdul Raqeeb, captain Yousuf and others for questioning before submitting a report to PCB chairman Ijaz Butt by the end of February.
