Asia Cup: After Andy Pycroft, Sri Lankan TV umpire new target of Pakistan ire

Asia Cup: After Andy Pycroft, Sri Lankan TV umpire new target of Pakistan ire (AP Photo)

Less than a week after their failed demand to get Andy Pycroft removed as an Asia Cup match referee, Pakistan have targeted another official. This time, the man in the cross-hairs is Sri Lanka’s Ruchira Palliyaguruge, who was the TV Umpire for the India-Pakistan match on Sunday.

According to sources in the Pakistan media, the team management have lodged a complaint with the International Cricket Council (ICC) against Palliyaguruge. Their objection is based on the following points:

• Fakhar Zaman’s catch-out was a controversial decision; the TV umpire did not thoroughly review the evidence, said Pakistan.

• In cases of disputed catches and inconclusive evidence, the benefit of the doubt is usually given to the batter.

To begin with, there wasn’t really anything controversial about the catch. Even in real time, it looked like Sanju Samson took the ball cleanly. The on-field umpires believed it was out but referred it upstairs for Palliyaguruge to look at replays.

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While it’s true that replays from more angles could have been made available, the very first one was clear enough. It showed Samson getting his gloves under the ball, and the ball bouncing off the webbing and into his palms. Expectedly, it didn’t take Palliyaguruge too long to be convinced.

Those that wanted to see it differently suggested it bounced before nestling into Samson’s gloves. That was either delusion or an optical illusion. The science behind it is simple. A parallax error is one that occurs when an observer's eye is not directly aligned with the measuring scale, causing an incorrect reading due to the apparent shift in an object's position when viewed from different angles. Because the camera was positioned a few feet above the ground, it looked like the ball had hit the ground when it hadn’t.

An excellent example of this came during the Qatar World Cup in 2022, when Japan’s second goal against Spain had some of those watching crying themselves hoarse over the ball having crossed the goal line before it was crossed. But the replay that mattered, in line, clearly showed that all of the ball had not crossed the line.

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The second objection is even more absurd. In modern cricket, the ‘benefit of the doubt’ is given to the on-field umpire’s decision, not to batter or bowler. An on-field decision is overturned only if there is conclusive evidence that it was wrong. In this case, there was no image telling the TV umpire that the ball had bounced before Samson gathered it.

For fans of conspiracy theories, it’s interesting that this complaint has been filed a day before Pakistan play Sri Lanka in a must-win match for both sides in Abu Dhabi. By questioning the competence of a Sri Lankan official, are Pakistan already making excuses for a potential early exit?