It is pathetic umpiring controversies plagued the second cricket test between India and Australia in SCG cricket ground Sydney, in Australia.Though there is provision for refering controversial decisions to the third umpire ,number of vital decisions because of the sheer carelessness of the umpires went in favour of Australia, causing a heavy burden on the Indian players, especially, our hapless bowlers. Ricky Ponting chased an outgoing delivery on the leg side and it resulted in the snick, but the umpire was not convinced.Usually the best judge in this regard is the wicketkeeper and though there was a vociferous clamour from the Indian players for the wicket of Ricky Ponting , the umpire was not convinced and he remained unmoved.The beneficiary is the Australian captain Ricky Ponting and the worst sufferer was the bowler, Sourav Ganguly.Subsequently, the commentators including Sunil Gavaskar pointed out the snick from the snickometer.What was the use?The game went on and Ricky Ponting went on to score 55.Similarly, Andrew Symonds, in the post-match interview given in a newspaper, though he scored the highest ever score against India, 163 not out, he himself admitted that he was out to a delivery from Ishant Sharma when his score was 30.But this time the worst sufferer was the bowler.Australia which was 134 for 6 went on to score 450 + score.
The moot question is, is it not the duty and moral obligations of a player to come forward honoustly to admit that he is out.Among the Australians, the wicket keeper batsman Adam Gilchrist alone sets an example of walking out of the ground even without waiting for the signal of the umpire.In the name of poor umpiring the game of cricket becomes the worst casualty.Having known well that he was out on 30, was there anything to be proud of for Andrew Symonds when he scored a century.Certainly it was not gentlemanly.Perhaps George Bernardshaw was right when he said that cricket is a game where eleven fools are playing and eleven thousand fools are watching !!
Leave Your Comments