The Asia Cup witnessed several umpiring blunders, some of which led to captains having animated discussions with the umpires
Mohammad Isam and Alagappan Muthu08-Mar-2016Umpiring was one of the major talking points in the Asia Cup, which was won by India on Sunday. There were several contentious decisions, some of which led to captains having animated discussions with the umpires. Virat Kohli was even fined for showing dissent, after being given out lbw against Pakistan, despite getting an inside edge.However, none of the managers contacted by ESPNcricinfo confirmed if the teams had lodged official complaints or pointed out the wrong decisions in the captain’s report, which is usually submitted to the match referee after each game.Fast bowler Mohammad Amir also had two leg-before appeals denied against Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, in the same India-Pakistan clash. Both calls turned out to be debatable with replays showing that the ball would have hit the stumps. Earlier in the game, Pakistan opener Khurram Manzoor was given not out after he had gloved the ball behind to MS Dhoni who later said that the earpieces used by umpires were depriving them of the full use of their hearing ability, especially in matches played in front of packed crowds.”You don’t want me to get banned before the World T20,” Dhoni said. “You’ve all seen the umpiring, so it’s your call. One thing that certainly should be done is all the umpires now have a walkie-talkie and an earpiece in their ear. Effectively, in a way, it means they are umpiring with only one ear because one ear is stuck with the ear piece so they can’t hear and when its [stadium] so loud.”I think it’s a very difficult job so definitely they need to consider this thing, at least have both ears around. No point having an earpiece when you know when the bowler is bowling, you know you won’t use the ear piece. At least you have the ear to listen to a lot of things that may happen on the field.”The umpires use earpieces because the walkie-talkie is inaudible on most occasions. This means that they need assistance from the TV umpire about nicks through various camera angles. This is particularly used when the ball runs around fielders or during commercial breaks.The most controversial decision of the tournament came when Sri Lanka allrounder Thisara Perera was given out stumped by the square-leg umpire, even though replays showed that he had made his ground just before Dhoni had whipped the bails off.Much like Dhoni, Sri Lanka’s stand-in captain Angelo Mathews was careful not to pin the blame directly on the umpires. “You want to put me on the spot? [The decision] is a human error,” Mathews said. “I think we all make mistakes. Take it and move on. But if you have the technology you can use it.”Pakistan and hosts Bangladesh were also affected by poor umpiring. Sharjeel Khan and Mohammad Hafeez were adjudged leg-before when the balls appeared to bounce over the stumps. Mushfiqur Rahim, meanwhile, was given out lbw to Shoaib Malik even as the ball pitched outside the leg stump.Pakistan’s coach Waqar Younis conceded that teams can’t “really do much” when the decisions don’t go their way. “The umpires try their best but I guess a couple of decisions haven’t really gone in our favour when they could have,” Waqar said. “That’s the way it is. One can say that’s a little harsh, but you can’t really do much about it.”The first controversial decision in televised matches in the Asia Cup came when Bangladesh seamer Mustafizur Rahman plucked out a low return catch, but it was not deemed a clean one. ESPNcricinfo has learnt that the decision had incensed the Bangladesh management, but they did not confirm if they had filed an official complaint.The case for the use of DRS had been discussed earlier, but it was shot down in view of not slowing down the game. During the Asia Cup, Ruchira Palliyaguruge (Sri Lanka) and Sharfuddoula (Bangladesh) stood in six matches at the Asia Cup while Anil Chaudhary (India) and Shozab Raza (Pakistan) officiated in five games. Bangladesh’s Enamul Haque and Anisur Rahman got four matches each while Buddhi Pradhan (Nepal) and Sarika Prasad (Singapore) officiated in three matches each.
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ESPNcricinfo’s commentary of the contentious umpiring decisions in the Asia CupBangladesh v UAE3.4 Mustafizur Rahman to Rohan Mustafa, no run, taken. Beautiful catch. Lovely bowling. Out comes that offcutter on middle, Mustafa is through the shot and just pats it in the air. Mustafizur runs across and takes a good diving catch. What are they checking for? Mustafizur took it cleanly but may have grounded that while landing, reverse cup. Has it touched the ground? Is he still in the process of taking the catch, does he have total control of it? These are factors that the third umpire has to adjudicate on. It seems to me that the ball has touched the ground at some point during his landing, but when did that come. Given not out.India v Pakistan4.4 Nehra to Khurram Manzoor, no run, a massive and prolonged appeal for caught behind and Dhoni and Nehra cannot believe he hasn’t been given out! Nehra is shocked and Dhoni has his hands on his hips. Manzoor tried to move across his stumps to the off side and scoop past the keeper, there was glove on that, he’s lucky to be there. The ball passes over the top of middle stump. At the end of the over, Dhoni has a talk with Saikat0.1 Mohammad Amir to Sharma, no run, Pakistan cannot believe that isn’t lbw! Amir has bowled a scorching yorker, angling across the right-hander and then bending back to hit the toe of the front foot. That looks so good. I think Rohit is really lucky …2.3 Mohammad Amir to Kohli, 1 leg bye, another massive appeal for lbw, the umpire signals leg byes too so there was no inside edge! Kohli moved forward and across to turn the ball through square leg but missed. The ball swung into him and hit him on the thigh. That might have clipped the top of the stumps, really, really close14.1 Mohammad Sami to Kohli, OUT, Kohli’s been given lbw and he does not like the decision! Was there an inside edge? He walks off with a wry smile and that’s because there was an inside edge. He moved back and across to turn a good length ball through the leg side but was beaten by the nip into him and hit on the front pad. He’s played a marvellous innings today, against high quality swing bowling at serious pace.Pakistan v UAE1.3 Amjad Javed to Sharjeel Khan, OUT, he’s given him lbw! The umpire took ages and it looked like he was going to give it not out and Sharjeel was taken by surprise last minute. Amjad pitched the ball around middle and brought it back into the left-hander, Sharjeel was caught on the crease as he brought his bat down with a closed face, looking to play on the leg side. The ball hit him on the top of the knee roll. That’s a tight call, might have been high or just about hitting leg stump. Will need to see replays. Yes, replays indicate it is too high, Sharjeel is unlucky and he took that decision rather wellIndia v Sri Lanka4.5 Nehra to Kapugedera, 3 leg byes, much better appeal, but not given. Very full on leg, pitched in line and strikes Kapu in front of leg. The slip fielder throws at the stumps but misses and concedes three overthrows. Replays show that was out.18.5 Ashwin to Perera, 1 wide, OUT, lovely bowling. Sees Perera advancing and bowls it very slow but very wide outside off. So wide that it is called a wide. Perera comes down but fails to connect with a big heave, wrong shot selection to that ball. But Dhoni whips off the bails in a jiffy and the umpire doesn’t need the help of his upstairs colleague. Replays showed it was not outBangladesh v Pakistan4.5 Mashrafe Mortaza to Mohammad Hafeez, OUT, appeal for lbw, almost a belated one, and the umpire raises the finger, the crowd roars in delight. The ball came back in a long way, Hafeez was hit on middle and leg, near the thigh. Mortaza was the only one who went up spontaneously before the keeper joined him and Hafeez has to walk back. Have to say he may have been unfortunate there, ball would have clearly gone over. Hafeez has a wry smile as he walks off14.2 Shoaib Malik to Mushfiqur Rahim, OUT, brain freeze, can’t say much else. Mushfiqur looks to play a reverse sweep to a delivery that pitched outside leg, he missed it completely, Malik almost pleaded thrice before Anil Chaudhary raised the finger after deliberating long and hard. Is that another escape route for Pakistan? Change of bowling has done the trick again. Coming back to the lbw decision, the ball pitched outside leg, would have missed the stumps as wellIndia v UAE2.3 Mohammad Naveed to Dhawan, no run, bumpy ball outside off, slants away, gets big on Dhawan who looks to cut before pulling his bat inside the line. The keeper, the bowler, and slips go up for a caught-behind appeal. Dhawan has snicked that and gets away. It was quite audible on TV. Sharfuddoula, the umpire, does not budge, though. Another umpiring blunder at the Asia Cup
