More than 9 years after he adjudged Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar out LBW in the World Cup semi-final against Pakistan at Mohali, former umpire Ian Gould opened up about his decision, saying he would stick to it even today.
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In that high-voltage encounter, Tendulkar failed to read Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal’s doosra and was trapped in front of the wickets. But he opted for DRS and it proved to be a masterstroke as the hawkeye showed that the ball was missing the stumps.
Gould, however, could not believe it when his decision was overturned.
“When I gave him out at Mohali, I’m thinking this is out. I will sit here and guarantee you, if I see it again, I’d still give it out, simple as that. He talked to Gambhir and looked like he was going to walk out, and I’m thinking thank God for that, then he spun on his heels and made that T sign and the world stopped,” Gould told BBC 5 Live Sport.
“Eventually, (third umpire) Billy Bowden told me ‘It’s missing leg, I need you to change your decision.’ Well, no disrespect to him, but I was watching on a 90-foot screen showing me it was missing leg by an inch so I didn’t really need his analysis. I’ve got a picture here where I’m looking slightly disgruntled or annoyed as I gave them not out,” he added.
Gould also said that he felt it was a straightforward LBW which was another reason why he was left perplexed.
“When the ball hit the pad, all I saw was a quicker ball from Ajmal and it thudded into the pads and went to square leg. It was just right, he’s out. Sorry, you’re out. I don’t care who you are, Sachin or anybody, you’re out. It does affect you at some stage but what you have to do is like a player, get rid of it as soon as you can. My problem was the disbelief of that thing missing leg-stump, in my mind it was one of those straightforward ones, gone,” he remarked.
The incident happened in the 11th over and Tendulkar was batting on 23 at the time. He then went on to play a match-winning knock of 115-ball 85 before getting out to Ajmal in the 37th over.
Having amassed 260/9 on the board, the Men in Blue bundled out Pakistan for 231 and later defeated Sri Lanka by 6 wickets to lift the World Cup 2011 at Wankhede Stadium.
“You can’t be walking through many airports when you’ve just given Sachin out LBW sliding down the leg-side. You’ll want to find a dress shop, get a wig and a beard and start limping,” Gould jokingly said.
