I fully agree with the author that Mr.Asoka de silva is the worst umpire not only in the panel but also in the entire world. He stands still for very close appeals,raises his dreaded finger for ridiculous appeals.He's done this innumerable number of times.He must be immediately axed.
Look at the Aussie umpires, they have crushed the rivals more than the aussie team. When India toured australia last, Tendulkar was given out wrongly 4 times out of 6 while Langer was virtually assured a double ton by the Umpires. Steve has the right to say that as the Aussies seem to have all the umpires favouring them. Even in the Sharjah matches, where Tendulkar played two match winning innings, he was given out wrongly in each of them.
This is truly a very nice article and a topic that should have been given serious thought much earlier. We strive for excellence in every activity we do in our daily activities. We expect exceptional skills for these "professionals" playing for their countries. Then it definitely makes sense if we expect higher levels in umpiring. People like Ashok De Silva, Darrel Hair etc should be taken out and put in not so "consequential" games so that they can learn. For series openers, series deciders etc, we should have experienced and expert umpires like Venkat etc. Yes, we do agree it's human tendency to err. But its also human tendency not to repeat errs! It does not matter if it happens to India or Aussies or even Bangladesh. It just is wrong.
Bottom line, it is professional;ism if Aussies win, they would have unleashed the severes for of criticism had they lost, so bottom line Umpiring sucks. Aravinda needs to step down form umpiring and stay off any form which requires decision making. Stupid article!
