‘It was not just one mistake’, Irfan Pathan slams Steve Bucknor over umpiring errors in 2008 Sydney Test

Bucknor recently admitted that his mistakes might have robbed India of a historic win in Sydney.

By Salman Anjum - 26 Jul, 2020

Apart from the 'MonkeyGate' scandal involving Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds, the 2008 Sydney Test between India and Australia is famous for a number of umpiring errors against the visitors.

12 years after that Test match, former West Indies umpire Steve Bucknor recently admitted that his mistakes might have robbed India of a historic win in Sydney.

See Also: Umpire Steve Bucknor recalls his errors in judgement against Sachin Tendulkar

However, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan is in no mood to forget and forgive Bucknor.

"No matter how much you accept your mistakes, what’s done is done, we lost the Test match. I remember, I played my first Test in Australia – that was in Adelaide, my debut game [in 2003] – and we won that Test after 21 [22] years in Australia," Pathan said on the Cricket Connected Show on Star Sports.

"And losing a Test match, just because of umpiring errors? Not going to make any difference, no matter what umpires say now.

"As a cricketer, we’re used to getting bad decisions, sometimes in our bowling, sometimes in our batting. And we get frustrated by that and then we forget about it. But this Sydney Test match, it was not just one mistake.

"There were about seven mistakes that cost us the game. There were mistakes where Andrew Symonds was playing, and he got out nearly, I remember, three times, and the umpire didn’t give him out," he further added.

On Day 1, India pacer Ishant Sharma found the inside edge of Symonds’ bat when the latter was batting on 30 but Bucknor adjudged it not out. Riding on his luck, the Aussie all-rounder smashed 160 as the hosts posted 463 in first innings.

In reply, the tourists claimed a 69-run lead on the back of Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman’s fabulous centuries.

Australia set India 333-run target on Day 5 with only 72 overs of play remaining. After losing the top-order cheaply, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly came to India’s rescue with a good partnership but the former was given caught out wrongly on 38 by Bucknor.

In the second innings, Ganguly was also given out in a controversial manner. The umpires were not sure whether Michael Clarke’s catch off Ganguly was clean or not but Ricky Ponting raised his finger, signalling it's out and the umpire went with the then Australia skipper’s word.

India eventually got bowled out for 201 in the second essay and lost the Sydney Test match by 122 runs.

Pathan revealed that the poor umpiring left the India players furious but they didn't believe it was being done on purpose.

"He was the Man of the Match, we lost by 122 runs. If only one decision against Andrew Symonds would have been corrected, we would have won that game easily.

"It was not just frustration. For the first time, I saw Indian cricketers were angry. Fans had only one thing in mind – that they [umpires] were doing it purposely. Obviously, as a cricketer, we can’t think like that.

"We’ve to think, 'OK. These things happen, and we’ve to move forward'. But seven mistakes? Are you kidding me? That was unbelievable and indigestible for us," he said.

By Salman Anjum - 26 Jul, 2020

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