Don't Put Umpire In Dock For Honest Mistake

Chettithody Shamshuddin. Remember the name. It may not have escaped your attention that this is the umpire who, according to observers ranging from England captain Eoin Morgan to several national newspaper headline writers to countless social media experts – and coach Trevor Bayliss and his No.2 Paul Farbrace in between – did the tourists out of their second T20 contest against India in Nagpur and with it the chance to wrap up the three-match series before they suffered a crushing defeat in the decider in Bangaluru.

- Peter Hayter

With England requiring just eight runs from the final over of a low-scoring but absorbing tussle, bowled by Jasprit Bumrah, Morgan called Shamshuddin’s decision to give Joe Root out lbw from the first ball “a hammer blow”, expressed “extreme frustration” and further suggested: “If this was a World Cup game, say you went out or lost a final, you would be spewing.”

In the wake of England’s failure to reach their target of 145 from the remaining five balls, and on top of the official’s earlier refusal to give out Virat Kohli to Chris Jordan, Shamshuddin’s decision-making, all done, crucially, without the benefit or assistance of DRS, was described on Sky TV back home as “shocking”.

Neither Bayliss nor Farbrace made any attempt to hide their anger when they exchanged words with the ump as the two teams were shaking hands on the pitch at the end of the match.

It was confirmed instead that England would be making a complaint to the ICC referee Andy Pycroft. And the hits just kept on coming. First, the Times of London told us: “Umpire error costs England series victory” and highlighted “two umpiring howlers that kept India in the series”.

The following day news emerged that Shamshuddin had been appointed by the Indian Board for the match in Nagpur as a replacement for CK Nandan even though he had only been back in India for 24 hours after umpiring Australia’s ODI against Pakistan three days earlier, the clear implication being that, as his body-clock would have been set at 2am at the time he made that final fateful decision against Root, he must surely have been close to nodding off.