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Journalism of Courage
If match referee Andy Pycroft found himself in the hot seat after the first India vs Pakistan game at the Asia Cup, it was the turn of the third umpire Ruchira Palliyaguruge to feel the heat after the India vs Pakistan Super 4 encounter on Sunday. The Pakistan team — and former cricketers from the nation — were irked by the decision from Palliyaguruge to give Fakhar Zaman out after Sanju Samson caught him off a slower delivery from Hardik Pandya in the third over of the Pakistan innings. The ball had taken an edge off Fakhar’s bat and Samson had dived ahead to claim the ball. After watching the reviews from a couple of angles, Palliyaguruge had sent back Fakhar.
It was a crucial wicket, with the batter having 15 of Pakistan’s 21 runs at that stage. After the game, in his customary report to match referee Andy Pycroft and the Umpires and Referees manager, Pakistan’s Salman Ali Agha reportedly highlighted the TV umpire’s decision to give Fakhar out.
Agha also spoke about the decision in the press conference: “Umpires can make mistakes. But it did look like it bounced ahead of the keeper to me. I might be wrong. The way [Fakhar] was batting, if he had batted through the powerplay, we would probably have scored 190. But those are calls for umpires to make. To me, it looked like it bounced before the keeper. I might be mistaken, but so might be the umpire.”
Former Pakistan cricketers were less forgiving.
“Unhone IPL me bhi toh umpiring karni hai [He has to umpire in the IPL too],” Shahid Afridi said on Samaa TV.
Another former cricketer, Mohammad Yusuf, added: “They didn’t even check many angles. Fakhar had hit three fours and handled (Jasprit) Bumrah with ease in the first over. His wicket was crucial for India.”
On state-run Pakistan TV, former pacer Shoaib Akhtar agreed.
“Fakhar wasn’t out. He should have been given the benefit of doubt. Majaal hai ki widwicket pe camera dekh le (Did they dare look at the mid-wicket camera angle?). Otherwise the cameras show the whole stump, but in this case they could not find an angle? Why couldn’t they get an angle? With 26 cameras available, why did the third umpire only check two angles? If Fakhar had stayed, the match might have turned. The third umpiring level was questionable. It clearly looks like the ball touched the grass. His palms are not on the ground fully. The ball has weight too,” Akhtar said on PTV.
After the group stage game, where India had won by seven wickets, Pakistan had directed its anger towards a different match official, the match referee Andy Pycroft. The game had seen plenty of controversy with Indians refusing to shake hands with their Pakistan counterparts as a symbol of their protest to the Pahalgam terror attacks earlier this year. The game had started with India captain Suryakumar Yadav refusing to shake hands with his Pakistan counterpart Salman Ali Agha at the toss. The Pakistan camp had raised an issue over the incident while also claiming that Pycroft had told Pakistan captain Agha not to shake hands with his India counterpart during the toss in the group stage game. Pakistan had later claimed that Pycroft had apologised, a version the ICC had disagreed with.
