Steve Bucknor admits to giving Sachin out wrongly – on two occasions!

161
Image Courtesy: Sky Sports/Asianet

A wrong out decision from the umpire can change the fate of a cricket match completely, in addition to knocking down an amazing batting spree. Even the icons of the game, such as Sachin Tendulkar, have been victims of bad umpiring, not once but in two occassions, and the errors were made by the former Jamaican umpire Steve Bucknor.

Image Courtesy: Sky Sports/Asianet

Bucknor, one of the most revered ICC umpires of all time, oversaw a record 128 Tests and 181 ODIs between 1989 and 2009, which also includes five Cricket World Cup finals. Unfortunately, multiple mistakes on his judgement on the 22 yards had lessened his reputation in those couple of decades, and Sachin had been the victim of a wrong decision twice.

Recalling his days of umpiring at the Barbados radio show ‘Mason and Guests’ a couple of days ago, Bucknor mentioned that he gave out to the Little Master incorrectly twice, which made him a abhorrent figure among the Men in Blue fan base of that time.

“Tendulkar was given out on two different occasions when those were mistakes,” Bucknor said in the radio programme, “I do not think any umpire would want to do a wrong thing. It lives with him and his future could be jeopardised.”

The first instance dates back to the First Test match between India and Australia at the Gabba in December 2003. Facing the superfast Aussie Jason Gillespie, Sachin’s leg was in contact with the ball in the 23rd over, but the ball was shown going over the stumps. Unfortunately, the Jamaican’s verdict was an lbw, as the Master Baster marched back to the pavilion with a duck.

“To err is human. Once in Australia, I gave him out leg before wicket and the ball was going over the top,” Bucknor described the incident at Brisbane.

“Another time, in India it was caught behind,” the 74 year old remembered the 2nd Test of  Pakistan tour of India in Kolkata, when Sachin was dismissed despite his bat not making contact against Abdul Razzaq’s delivery in the 32nd over.

Bucknor continued, “The ball deviated after passing the bat but there was no touch. But the match was at Eden Gardens and when you are at the Eden and India is batting, you hear nothing. Because 100,000 spectators are making noise,” Tendulkar’s innings had come to an end on 52 runs.

“Those were the mistakes and I was unhappy. I am saying a human is going to make mistakes and accepting mistakes are part of life,” he concluded.

If you like reading about MMA, make sure you check out MMAIndia.com
Also follow India’s biggest arm wrestling tournament at ProPanja.com

Also read-

Mashrafe Mortaza among 3 Bangladeshi players to test COVID-19 positive

Kerala cricketer Sachin Baby : Sreesanth is still unplayable!