How Dumb can Taufel be

Simon Taufel.Regarded to be one of the best umpires in cricket in the likes of Harold 'Dicky' Bird and David Shepherd because of the astonishing accuracy of his decisions has just proved himself to be as human as other ordinary umpires.Now,when you are in the Elite panel of umpires it means that the guys out there in ICC consider your judgement of the game to be pretty good.

But horrendous decisions like the ones Taufel gave yesterday makes one reconsider the quality of umpiring going on.Before all the people out there cry out loud that 'Cricket is just a game.Everybody is human.Blah Blah Blah Blah!',I would like you to consider the situation of the game yesterday.Tendulkar was batting well,finally having got his groove back(not fully,but satisfying)and looking on course for a magnificient century.What could have possibly prevented him from reaching that landmark?.Only a dumb decision.AND THAT IS WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED.One of the most horrific leg before decisions i have ever seen.God!!Just because a batsmen doesn't offer a shot will not mean he is out.Come on.Have some sense.In giving a LBW decsion,the height of the ball when it strikes the batsmen has to clearly noted because it shows whether the ball will go on to hit the stumps or not.In Sachin's case the ball did miss offstump.Replays also showed that.Now,those who cry foul at my blog saying that the 'Pressure in the game is too much.The umpires have to take split second decsions while the audience have the luxury of deciding in the comfort of their homes' I would like to emphasise that it is a prerequisite to have a cool head when you want to be a umpire.If you have doubts take the help of technology.Yesterday Taufel did take his own sweet time to give the decision,a rarity,clearly showing that he was in a dilemma.Finally the fact that Sachin didn't offer a shot probably did him in but nevertheless an awful decision from what we call a 'good' umpire.

As for the Ganguly episode, the lesser said the better.What do you have the stump mike for?Probably to overhear what the players are chitchatting in between the overs.A kind of entertainment for the overworked umpires!!!When I can't hear a nick,sitting in my living room surrounded by my family talking nineteen to the dozen when the ball passed Ganguly's bat,how come did Taufel hear it.And remember the English crowd is not as noisy as their Indian conterparts.Another well deserved century missed out due to,if i may say,negligence on the part of the umpire.

You see its a paradox.If a bad decision is made,blame is put on not using the available technology to arrive at correct decisions.But if a bad decision is made even after the use of proper technology,what to say.Audience like me can only sigh.Make it a double sigh.

All said and done this leads to two possible solutions.Either the technology is dumb or Simon Taufel is dumb(with due regard to all his brilliant decisions made in other matches).And as far as i am concerned it is Simon Taufel who acted DUMB with a capital D on the third day of the second India-England test.