This morning, I read an interesting article in Espncricinfo where Steve Bucknor, the umpire the entire country is terrified of when we hear that name has said that his mistake might have cost the Indian team the 2008 Sydney Test. He has admitted that he made two mistakes in that game. One was the aforementioned one. The other was when he adjudged Dravid caught behind on the last day when India were trying to save the game. Bucknor has long been accused of having a bias against India. It didn’t feel like a genuine sorry when I read that article.
What was the mistake that Bucknor committed?
The Dravid’s decision was the least of the blunders in the game committed by Steve Bucknor. At the most, it would have helped us save the game. The one glaring blunder that he made in that game was the caught behind decision of Andrew Symonds. Anyone who had seen that game would have seen the clear edge. All the eleven Indian players knew, everyone in the crowd knew, the commentators, the groundsmen and everyone else were able to see a gigantic deflection and hear a clear sound but not the OLD STEVE BUCKNOR.
What was the stage when Bucker committed that blunder?
Australia were 193/6 at that stage. With that wicket and with India’s traditional weakness to dismiss the lower order batsmen, Australia would have been bowled out for 270. India replied with over 500 runs powered by brilliant hundreds from Tendulkar and Laxman. We would have taken a lead of more than 300 runs. With such a huge lead, Australia would have hardly been able to set us a target of 100 runs. Only if they were able to score that many. India won the next test in Perth handsomely. The last test was drawn. This essentially means we would have won our first series in Australia in 2008 itself.
The aftermath of that blunder
Bucknor certainly contributed to the subsequent squabble between Harbhajan and the Australian players because of that one decision. The acrimony was so horrible that at one stage, the Indians were ready to cancel the tour. I also distinctly remember when Ponting claimed a catch of a bump ball. All of these could have been avoided if Bucknor had officiated properly.
This test was certainly not an isolated game poorly officiated by Bucknor
Remember, in one of the Test in South Africa, Bucknor refused to refer a runout chance to the third umpire. Jonty Rhodes was atleast a feet short of the crease. India were on top in that game too. Unfortunately, Rhodes went onto score which ultimately proved to be a match winning innings.
This particular video is still available on YouTube. Anyone who watches the replay will clearly be able to see that Bucknor no way could have given that out just with his judgement. He was on the run. He had to turn his head a full 180 degree to be able to see the stumps. By the time he swung his head, the ball had already hit the stumps. Jonty was out by a feet.
Any umpire worth his salt would have not even thought for a moment before referring the decision to the third umpire. It was clear. Every umpire would have certainly referred the decision to the third umpire. In the pre-third umpire era, this mistake would have been understandable but not when the technology had already been introduced. If I remember correctly, he was on record stating that he will never ever refer any decision to the third umpire. That sounds extremely cocky and arrogant.
The ultraslow umpire
Bucknor who is famous for his ultra-slow decision making goes onto say that he usually runs through every appeal in his mind and analyse whether the ball pitched outside the leg or was the impact outside the off or was the ball going over or the ball hit the bat or some part of the body. Someone who thinks this much before giving a decision ought to make the fewer mistakes when compared to the other umpires but Bucknor was probably one of the umpires who has given the most number of poor decisions.
Conclusion
Bucker now says that he made a couple of mistakes albeit in that game only. Does he know that for every Indian cricket fan, winning in Australia is a dream and that a set of brilliant players, whose dream has always been to win outside of India and especially, in Australia, this was an opportunity lost? For Dravid, Ganguly, Sachin, Laxman, Kumble, Sehwag & Harbhajan who had toured Australia multiple times before the 2008 tour, that tour provided an opportunity which they never had before or after save for that one tour in 2004 to win in Australia.
It was Bucknor and Bucknor only who snatched away that dream of theirs. If only he had given the correct decision, India would have gone on to win the series. We would have won our first series in Australia in 2008 and not in 2018 and that too against a much better Australian side than the one in 2018.
While we are on the subject of Australia, read my other blogs regarding the upcoming Australian tour in December here and here
What do you think about Steve Bucknor’s confession after so many years?