Former cricket umpire Steve Bucknor recently spoke about how he had on two separate occasions given Sachin Tendulkar out when he should not have. The first of those took place at the Gabba in Brisbane in 2003, when a ball from Jason Gillespie rapped Tendulkar on the pads but seemed to be missing leg stump. Bucknor, refererred to as 'Slow Death' for the way he took his time giving his decision, declared him out.
The second was during a Test match against Pakistan at Eden Gardens in 2005, when Tendulkar chased a swinging ball from Abdul Razzaq and was given out caught behind. Replays showed the ball hadn't touched the bat.
“To err is human. Tendulkar was given out on two different occasions when those were mistakes. I do not think any umpire would want to do a wrong thing, it lives with him and his future could be jeopardized,” he told the Mason & Guest programme.
“Once in Australia I gave him leg-before and the ball was going over the top, and another time in India, it was caught behind. The ball deviated after passing the bat but there was no touch.
"But the match was at Eden Gardens and when you are at the Eden and India is batting, you hear nothing. Because 100,000 spectators are making noise. "Those were the mistakes and I was unhappy. I am saying a human is going to make mistakes and accepting mistakes are part of life.”
Bucknor went on to add that he admired Tendulkar's ability but rated fellow West Indians Viv Richards and Brian Lara above the Master Blaster.
