Don’t shoot the judge
Sanjay Manjrekar, writing in Outlook India , finds it amazing that umpiring errors get talked about and debated over in the Indian media quite so much
Nikita Bastian
25-Feb-2013
Sanjay Manjrekar, writing in Outlook India, finds it amazing that umpiring errors get talked about and debated over in the Indian media quite so much. Are umpires the favourite whipping boys of cricket, because such debates make for good TRPs, and unlike the players, they have no way of getting back at the media he asks.
Excessive criticism of any Indian cricketer can be quite hazardous for a media outlet … no more will it get exclusive quotes and interviews from the star cricketer that media outlets thrive upon. The cricketer, therefore, has great powers to fight back when in trouble. By comparison, the poor umpire is powerless! No one wants a Billy Doctrove exclusive, right?
For me, nothing is more ridiculous than the suggestion that an umpiring decision cost a team the match. We go on for days about how that one umpiring decision—for or against one batsman—cost us the game. You’d think that only one batsman bats in this game and not eleven.
Nikita Bastian is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo