Till about 30 years ago, there used to be umpires from the host country for international cricket

matches. Overseas teams, particularly those visiting the Indian subcontinent used to accuse unfair
umpiring all the time.

To get rid of these accusations, Pakistan cricketer Imran Khan supported and in a way,
masterminded the concept of neutral umpires for international matches. The ICC too realised it was
the remedy for the accusations hurled at domestic umpires and gradually adopted neutral umpires.
Today, neutral umpires have most airmiles in the cricketing fraternity. However, has it eliminated all
the concerns the concept was born to eliminate in the first place? No, field umpires are still
attributed wrong and unfair dismissals and their decisions are subject to review. Now, you have a
third umpire, a match referee and what not … the situation doesn't seem to have improved much
actually.

Hey, what am I talking? Isn't this supposed to be an article on independent directors?

Oh, yes …

Public shareholders (read 'minority', many if not most of the times) in public companies for long
used to hold grudge against the management (invariably the promoters and their nominated
professionals, mostly family members) - e.g., they do not have any say in management of the
company, they are being oppressed, the company is being mismanaged, and so on ….