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Sachin tendulkar got out again scoring just seven runs in the third one day international of the current series between India and Sri Lanka being played in Sri Lanka. But, it wasn’t the bowler Fernando who bowled him out. Strangely, it was the local umpire who did that. It was a wrong lbw decision. But, that cut short Sachin’s innings unjustly. Sachin has been a victim of bad umpiring in the two earlier matches in this ODI series though the umpire could have got the benefit of doubt in one of them.
It is just that India won all three matches in spite of these bad decisions. If India had lost any of them, it could very well have been because of these bad decisions.
Wrong umpiring decisions not only affect the career and records of individual players but also have far reaching consequences on the confidence levels and psychological factors of the players. Bad decisions may also have a bearing on the result of a match or an entire series. So, it is important to ensure perfect or at least near perfect umpiring decisions on the field.
Incidentally, these decisions may not have been motivated. There is every reason to believe that these bad decisions were the result of incompetence of inexperienced umpires. For a match that counts for international records of the teams as well as individual players, there can be nothing worse than this.
Sachin is too much of a gentleman to protest on these occasions. But, it must be hurting him a lot because he knows for sure that he was not out on many occasions when he was given out. He has clearly weathered more than his share of bad decisions. What Sachin had to suffer on account bad umpiring decisions may be ten times more than what many other batsmen had to put up with. I sometimes wonder if that is why Sachin is called 10-dulkar?!
In spite of over a hundred wrong decisions, Sachin is still acknowledged as one of the greatest batsmen the game has produced. Just imagine what it could have done to Sachin’s batting averages and India’s overall performance if all those decisions had been correct. On quite a few occasions, our performance depended entirely on Sachin. Think of how many more records he would have broken or created.
But, all those wrong decisions may not have been innocent decisions. There is, therefore, a very real need to regulate the decisions of the umpires and discipline the umpires handing out such wrong decisions for whatever reasons.
I think the ICC must think in terms of setting up a review committee which would go into the controversial decisions of each match. Unlike the olden days, we have everything on electronic records and the umpires making wrong decisions must be called into question and asked to explain their lapses.
It is okay if the ICC does not share the details of this with the world. But, such a thing would not only encourage umpires to hone their umpiring skills but also deter motivated decisions. I think this is of paramount importance and must be implemented in letter and spirit in the interest of the game and fair play.
