Former international umpire Steve Bucknor has accepted that his LBW decision that ruled Sachin Tendulkar out during the 2003 Australia-India Brisbane Test was a "mistake".
Bucknor accepted his wrongdoing in an interview to West Indies Cricket Umpires' Association. "Giving Sachin Tendulkar out leg-before-wicket, and it's a matter of knowing that it was a mistake, but until this day, every day, people talk about it,” Bucknor said in the interview.
The infamous incident occurred during India's first innings and resulted in Tendulkar getting out on a duck.
"Why did I give him out? Was he out and so on? But then in life, mistakes happen. I have accepted that it was a mistake, and life goes on," Bucknor, now 79, added. The umpire's mistake earned Jason Gillespie the prized wicket of Tendulkar.
The decision not only shocked Tendulkar and his teammates but it also surprised Tony Greig who was on the commentary duties when the moment transpired. "Oh! He has given him (out)! Oh no... that is a dreadful decision...he didn't play a shot...the truth of the matter...I don't think he anticipated the movement back of the seam, but there was no way that was going to hit the stumps." were Greig's words as the events unfolded.
The replay further confirmed how wrong Bucknor was as it showed that the ball was going way over the stumps. Tendulkar's dismissal did not affect India much as captain Sourav Ganguly knock of 144 helped the team draw the Test.
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Bucknor frequently used to spark controversies with his decisions, especially against India.
Four years later, in another Australia-India Test, this time played in Sydney, Bucknor committed many errors. The Jamaican confessed about his misjudgements in a 2020 interview to Mid Day.
"I made two mistakes in the Sydney Test in 2008. Mistake one, which happened when India were doing well, allowed an Australian batsman to get a hundred. Mistake two, on day five, might have cost India the game. But still, they are two mistakes over five days. Was I the first umpire to make two mistakes in a Test? Still, those two mistakes seem to have haunted me," Bucknor said in that interview.
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