MUMBAI: In an effort to infuse “in-house talent” into the Indian Premier League (
IPL), the Indian cricket board decided to cut down on their import of international umpires for the tournament. However, in doing so, the
BCCI finds itself in the middle of a mess as cricket’s hottest property is being reduced to a joke.
ALSO READ: Gill, Karthik star as KKR beat CSKFrom the umpiring mess involving Shane Watson’s leg-before decision in the match between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Delhi Daredevils (DD) to umpires checking for a no-ball in the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians with the third umpire showing batsman at the non-striker’s end, goofups this IPL have been never-ending.
Continuing on the same note on which the tournament had concluded in 2017 — more than 25 umpiring errors marring the 10th edition of which close to a dozen were clear howlers — the 2018 tournament has been chugging along on similar lines.
In the match between
Sunrisers Hyderabad
and CSK last week, umpire
Vineet Kulkarni had to face the ire of the fans in Hyderabad when a Shardul Thakur delivery – above the waist of batsman
Kane Williamson — wasn’t called a no-ball. Sunrisers lost a close game and that decision could have influenced the result.
The umpires, in the game between Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders, in fact, handed the latter a free-hit for a no-ball that wasn’t despite Punjab’s Andrew Tye clearly not overstepping the crease. In another match between KKR and Sunrisers, it was a thick edge that the umpires didn’t spot, only to find the decision overturned by the review system.
Tye’s no-ball decision in fact gave way to a debate over why a TV umpire could not correct the on-field umpire, considering that a free hit in a T20 innings is a big deal.
The BCCI has tried showcasing a long-standing policy of grooming umpires but for a while now, India hasn’t been able to cope up with the international standards. “And when a decision is taken to support home-grown umpires because it’s a domestic tournament, this is the result,” say those involved with the franchises.
Kulkarni, in fact, is the same umpire that India had withdrawn from the ICC’s Elite Panel after controversial decisions involving the Indian team.
“Why can’t we learn from our mistakes? Does it take outright public criticism and outpouring of abuse to sit up and take note of all that is wrong? We want to be seen as the best cricket league in the world but won’t do anything about the quality of the tournament dumbing down. This is not going to add any points to this edition. You look bad everywhere, in the stadium, on television, and there’s an unforgiving social media,” says an ex-cricketer.