Australian umpire Daryl Harper officiated in 95 Tests, 174 ODIs and 10 T20Is, but his claim to fame is giving Sachin Tendulkar out LBW while he was ducking into a short ball from Glenn McGrath, which hit him on the shoulder in front of the stumps.
The incident happened during the Australia-India Adelaide Test in 1999 and McGrath caught Tendulkar in front of the stumps when the little master ducked and umpire Harper had no qualms about giving him out, much to the hatred of Indian fans.
Recalling the incident, Harper admitted that he still stands by it and was probably the right decision.
WATCH- Sachin Tendulkar reveals how he got better of Glenn McGrath during the 1999 Adelaide Test
“I look back on that ‘Tenducker’ decision every day of my life. It’s not that I sleep badly or have nightmares and replays dancing through my brain. When I walk through my garage I am confronted by a huge canvas print of Sachin and Glenn McGrath, taken momentarily after the ball made contact,” Harper was quoted as saying by Asianet Newsable.
“You may be disappointed to know that I’m still extremely proud of that decision because I considered the action before me and applied the law without fear or favor. Sachin was the Indian captain at that time and ICC officials informed me that he didn’t note that decision when he assessed my performance on the standard post-match paperwork, “ Harper further said.
Harper also mentions meeting MSK Prasad in December 2018, who was the Indian wicketkeeper in that Test match, and claims that Prasad mentioned that Sachin admitted that he was out.
“In December 2018, I met Indian selector MSK Prasad during lunch at Adelaide Oval during the Australia-India Test match. We probably hadn’t seen each other since that Test 20 years earlier at the same beautiful ground,” Harper said.
“Sachin said he was out…Sachin said he was out, Prasad said excitedly, Well, I thought he was too,” I confirmed,” the Australian umpire claims.
Glenn McGrath had spoken on the decision and said, “Sachin was batting and I think he had still not scored many runs or was still on zero, having just come in. I bowled him a bouncer and Sachin is not the tallest guy going around.”
“The bouncer will generally bounce and clear him quite easily, but that day when it bounced, it kept low and he ducked it and it hit him on his shoulder. And because he is not very tall, when he ducked it… from where I could see, I could see the bails over the top and it was hitting the middle stumps,” the highest wicket-taking Australian fast bowler said.
“So, I appealed and the umpire gave him out and he was not happy. So he walks off. Is it LBW? Probably, it should have been SBW or Shoulder Before Wicket,” McGrath said.
