There would have been no controversy at all and the present anti-India tone in Bangladesh not been discussed on social media as is happening now if Saikat had gone by the use of technology
Bhopal: Forty-eight years old Bangladeshi umpire Sharfuddoula Saikat’s controversial decision on Yashasvi Jaiswal in declaring him out on the final day of India-Australia 4th test for Border-Gavaskar trophy played at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) is difficult to digest for many including Indian great Sunil Gavaskar.
There would have been no controversy at all and the present anti-India tone in Bangladesh not been discussed on social media as is happening now if Saikat had gone by the use of technology that International Cricket Council (ICC) uses in all international matches to avoid any controversy and ensure transparency in on field and third umpires’ decisions.
Instead, Saikat chose to believe his eyes, not the snickometer which showed a flat line when the ball got past Yashasvi’s bat, to arrive at his conclusion i.e. overturning on field umpire Joel Wilson’s decision of not out and giving his verdict that Yashasvi was caught out.
Yashasvi was batting on 84 while six wickets were down from India side with 140 runs on board. India was struggling to avoid the defeat.
Yashasvi made an attempt to hit a bouncer from Australian team captain Pat Cummins. Wicketkeeper Alex Carey took a clean catch as he thought. The team made an appeal for caught behind but the on-field umpire Joel Wilson turned down the appeal.
Cummins resorted to the decision review system (DRS). Certain angle during the regular replays showed a big deflection but Snickometer showed a flat line. But much to the team’s jubilation the third umpire Saikat ignored the flat line shown by Snickometer and used his wisdom on seeing several replays that the batsman was out.
Once Yashasvi was given out in this unusual fashion the entire team was soon out and Indian team had to face defeat against Australia.
India’s great cricketer Sunil Gavaskar was upset with the decision saying ‘if Snickometer is not to be used then it should not be used at all’.
“This is a wrong decision. A completely wrong decision. This is optical illusion (that the batsman hit the ball). Why are we using technology? Snickometer shows nothing. One day you use Snickometer then the other day you don’t use it. If you have to go by the optical illusion then stop using snickometer”, said Sunil Gavaskar presently doing commentary in Australia.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma was disappointed too not only because of the result but the manner in which Yashasvi was given out.
Responding to journalists questions in a press conference post-match he said, “I don’t know what to make of that…I don’t know how the umpires want to use the technology, but in all fairness, I think he did touch the ball…”
On the contrary, the Australian team captain Cummins was confident that Yashasvi had hit the ball.
Experts too were divided in their views on this controversy.
Australian former cricket umpire Simon Taufel who has been a member of the ICC Elite umpire panel endorsed the third umpire’s decision.
Speaking on Channel 7 he said deflection was conclusive evidence and that Sharfuddolula Saikat did the right thing.
However, as far as Indian cricket lovers are concerned Saikat is in line of fire from them on social media, some expressing their feelings in the context of present India-Bangladesh relations.
One Nikhil Mishra with @nikhileshm47 profile name wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “Saikat is gonna be the difference between #INDvsAUS in the Melbourne test. No spikes but still given out (You can expect when a Bangladeshi umpire is the TV umpire.”
There are memes too doing the rounds on social media making fun of the Bangladeshi umpire.
WHO IS SHARFUDDOULA SAIKAT
Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh in October 1976 Sharfuddoula Saikat is a former first-class cricketer. He was a left-arm leg spinner but was not successful in his cricketing journey. He played 10 first class matches in the years 2000 and 2001 and seeing his career going nowhere as a cricket he turned to umpiring in 2007.
In January 2010, he officiated his first international match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In 2024, he became the first Bangladeshi umpire to make it to the elite panel of ICC umpires.
