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Thursday, March 19, 2015, Chaitra 5, 1421 BS, Jamadi ul Awwal 27, 1436 Hijr

Umpires come under fire for ‘no-ball’ call
Observer Online Desk
Published : Thursday, 19 March, 2015,  Time : 9:40 PM,  View Count : 25
Umpires Aleem Dar and Ian Gould are facing harsh criticism for their ‘no ball’ call that robbed Bangladesh of Rohit Sharma’s wicket during the World Cup quarterfinal against India.

Rohit went on to smash his maiden World Cup century to take India to 302 for 6 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Thursday.
In the 40th over, Rohit, batting on 90, he pulled pacer Rubel Hossain’s fourth delivery, a full toss, towards deep midwicket and was caught by Imrul Kayes.
But Dar, who was at square leg, had indicated that ball was above Rohit’s waist and Gould signalled no-ball.
The Tigers were left shocked by the call as replays later showed that Rubel’s delivery was not a beamer.
Many former cricketers, experts and cricket fans took to Twitter and other social networking sites to criticise the umpires’ decision.
Bangladesh fans did not take it lightly either and the social media was abuzz with harsh criticisms.
But the first reaction came from Australian legend Shane Warne, who was commentating on TV when it all happened.
A clearly upset Warne said, "That should have been a wicket. The ball was under the waist. He (Aleem Dar) has lost his confidence.”

He said it was a bad decision from an experienced umpire like Dar.
The Pakistani umpire was also involved in another umpiring error in the match between Australia and England in the group stage.
Even former India batsman VVS Laxman felt it was not a no-ball. "Bad decision from Gould, was definitely not above the waist. Lucky break for rohit. this can b the difference in getting xtra 20 runs #CWC2015," he tweeted.
Sports journalist and ESPNcricinfo Editor-in-Chief Sambit Bal also thought it was a blunder by the umpires.
He tweeted, “Cricket needs to change this rule. An obvious error from the onfield umpire should get corrected by the third umpire. It's common sense.”
ESPNcricinfo from its handle also tweeted, “Rohit Sharma holes out to deep midwicket. Given a no-ball for height, but was it? Could be a game-deciding call.”
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly also criticised the umpires’ decision.
He thought the third umpire should have been consulted first before giving the no-ball call.


Editor : Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury