It is not for nothing that Sachin Tendulkar is referred to as the ‘God of Cricket’. Not only is he the most-skillful batsman, but also he is the most taint-free and non-controversial batsman the world has seen. This blogpost throws light on an incident involving the ‘Master Blaster’ walking off the ground despite being adjudged not out by the on-field umpire during the India-West Indies game.
The incident in contention occurred in the very first over of the match. The bounce in Ravi Rampaul’s delivery took Sachin by surprise and ran straight through to the wicket keepers’ gloves. A phlegmatic appeal from the bowler failed to impress the umpire, who seemed to be without an iota of doubt that the batsman hadn’t nicked the ball on its way to the keeper. Without taking a second look at the umpire, India’s favourite son embarked on the long walk back to the pavilion. Many may laud Sachin for upholding his honesty, but I would like to tread a slightly varied path.
The fielding side is within its rights to appeal to the umpire if it’s confident of having gotten the better of the batsman. It is then the job of the umpire to pronounce his decision. The recently introduced Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS), as I understand it, empowers team captains to review the validity of decisions made by the on-field umpire. With the extensive use of technology, both sides are amply safeguarded against any wrong decision that may unfavourably alter the course of the game. Why then should a batsman display such misplaced integrity? Can we expect an opponent to display the same level of honesty? I would like to reiterate my stand with the help of a hypothetical situation. Would such an action be easy to laud if India had their last batting pair at the crease with two runs still to get for a victory? The same preachers of honesty would have then blamed Sachin for having cost India the game by walking off!
