Steve Bucknor has admitted that he made the mistake of giving Tendulkar out in that innings and he has accepted the mistake and life moves on for him. (File/AP)
22 years after he adjudged Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar LBW during the first Test at Brisbane in the 2003-04 India Australia series, former International Cricket Council umpire Steve Bucknor has admitted that he made the mistake of giving Tendulkar out in that innings and he has accepted the mistake and life moves on for him. Tendulkar, who fell LBW off the third ball of his innings at the score of zero during India’s first innings against the bowling of Jason Gillespie, had attempted to leave the delivery with the ball hitting the pads a bit higher. The Indian batsman had missed the movement of the ball on the Brisbane pitch and shouldered arms to the ball, which pitched outside off and came back to hit him in line a bit high on the pads. With Gillespie and wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist appealing and his team-mates too joining, Bucknor gave Tendulkar out with later replays suggesting that it was a wrong call.
“Giving Sachin Tendulkar out leg before wicket, and it’s a matter of knowing that it was a mistake, but until this day, every day, people talk about it. Why did I give him out? Was he out and so on? But then in life, mistakes happen. I have accepted that it was a mistake, and life goes on,” Bucknor said in an interview with West Indies Cricket Umpires’ Association’s official Youtube channel.
Later in Tendulkar’s career, Bucknor once again gave an contentious decision against Tendulkar in the second Test against arch rivals Pakistan at Eden Gardens in 2005, when a Abdul Razzaq delivery zipped past Tendulkar’s bat without making any contact with the bat and the West Indian umpire adjudging the Indian batsman out.
Bucknor, who retired from umpiring in 2009, had officiated in 128 Test matches and 181 ODIs and officiated in five successive ODI World Cup finals starting in 1992 till 2007. The West Indian, who played football as a youth player for Jamaica, also officiated as a referee in a FIFA World Cup qualifier between El Salvador and the Netherlands Antilles in 1988. The legendary umpire had become the first umpire in the world to officiate in 100 Test matches when he officiated in the Eden Gardens Test between India and Pakistan in 2005.
Bucknor also spoke about how he became an umpire in the hour long interview. “Well actually when I passed my first exam in 1972 I played for 13 years. Then I got an injury and I told myself that playing days will be over. So I’ll now concentrate on umpiring and not playing. But in the meantime, I was always umpiring and playing but stop play and go umpire. But then it was more fun than anything. Those were my thoughts,” recalled Bucknor.
The legendary umpire also spoke in length about the pressures of being an international umpire in cricket and how he dealt with it. “Well, pressure is something that lives with everybody. So pressure in cricket outside of cricket makes no difference. Being a football referee the pressure is on. You go down to certain areas where there’s Montego Bay or Kingston, there’s some pressure that you’ll feel because of the area. Now on the cricket field. It’s all about right and wrong. Yes, it is right or wrong. And the pressure, yes, it goes there. It is something that is natural. But you must not put yourself under pressure. Others may put you under pressure but you must not put yourself under pressure. Two roads to travel. Straight and narrow. The wide and winding however you see it. But the pressure should come to you. Think about it. I need to be correct. I need to be correct. The sun is hot. Yes, there are many appeals. But I must block all that out and see good, bad or good, evil, out, not out being fearful. If you think about being fear, then there will not be any outside influence,” said Bucknor.
The 79-year-old would also talk about how he never thought about who is playing on the cricket field and gave his decisions regardless of whoever was playing. “There can’t be any outside influence depending on how you think. Don’t think about who’s playing because if I can’t give a West Indian captain first ball leg before. Why not ? I’m not thinking about who is playing because I see a batsman or a batter. I see a bowler and in front of me I see fair play. So you may put yourself under pressure but the pressure must not come from outside,” added Bucknor.
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