Umpires\\\' divisive decisions shock Bangladeshis

FE Report | Published: March 20, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

Millions of Bangladeshi cricket fans have staged protests against the 'controversial' decisions made by the umpires in the second quarter-final match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.
India beat Bangladesh by 109 runs in the second quarter-final match held at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Australia on Thursday.
Immediately after the knockout match, the cricket fans took to the streets at Dhaka University (DU) and other parts of the country, chanting slogans against match umpires Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and Ian Gould (England).
Rejecting the biased results, they sought immediate appeal against such 'wrong' decisions which ultimately came as the match-deciding factors, leaving the confident Tigers out of the race.
Setting fire to the effigy of Pakistan umpire Aleem Dar at TSC of DU, they also demanded suspension of the two umpires from the international cricket.
Many of the protesters carried placards, branding the ICC (International Cricket Council) as Indian Cricket Council.
"The decisions made by the umpires at an important time of the match cannot be accepted in the era of digitised world. Shame….shame on the umpires and shame on the ICC," said Kamrul Islam, a student of Dhaka University.
"Bangladesh has not lost the match. They (the tigers) were defeated intentionally," said rickshaw-puller Suna Miah who watched the match in front of a shop at Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka.
He said all across the globe saw that Rohit Sharma was caught by a Bangladeshi fielder when he was in 90, but the umpire signalled no-ball that allowed the batsman to add 47 more runs and helped Indian team to reach a big total.
Not only on the streets, people at tea-stalls, buses, fields, offices and even homes were also upset by such decisions. They were busy making comments on social media like Facebook and Twitter.
The turning-point of the match was witnessed by billions across the world as Ian Gould no-balled to Rubel Hossain for a seemingly waist-high full-toss in the 40th over of the match.
Rohit Sharma pulled the full-toss delivery of Rubel almost instinctively towards deep midwicket where the outfielder came forward and took the catch. To the dismay of Bangladesh supporters, umpire Ian Gould called out a no-ball and reprieved Rohit Sharma and India's chances of a huge score of 302.
When the replay was shown, the error in Ian Gould's judgment became apparent with repeated viewings as the ball was dipping sharply when the batsman made contact. Such decisions are usually given by the leg-umpire, but this time Aleem Dar chose to remain silent, to the mystery of Bangladeshi fans.
"Bad decision from Gould was definitely not above the waist. Lucky break for rohit. this can b (be) the difference in getting xtra (extra) 20 runs," Indian former national cricketer VVS Laxman commented in his twitter account.  
  Just before batting power-play in India innings, Mashrafe appealed for a LBW (leg before wicket) against just in batsman Suresh Raina, but the umpire rejected the appeal, forcing the Bangladeshi captain for taking a review.
Although it was seen in the replay that the ball was moving towards the middle stamp, but third umpire Steve Davis upheld the field umpire's decision.
Even in the 2nd innings when Bangladesh was chasing steadily, most dependable middle-order batsman Mahmudullah, who made back-to-back century in this World Cup, was given caught out in another 'controversial' decision although there was enough doubt that the fielder (Shikhar Dhawan) touched the boundary line in the square leg.        
  Such decisions caused shocks and surprise to the fans as well as the cricket analysts both at home and abroad.
In a reaction, former Bangladesh opener Javed Omar Belim said such 'wrong' decisions in a knockout match of the world cup cannot be accepted. "I think those decisions took the game away from us," he added.
In an immediate reaction to some Bangladeshi private television channels, ICC President Mustafa Kamal expressed his dissatisfaction over bad umpiring and said he will appeal to the ICC about it in its next meeting.
 "I will leave the post of ICC president, if necessary," he said in reply to a question.   
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