NEW DELHI: Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar’s social media post on Saturday has gone viral in no time, reigniting a storm among fans over former umpire Steve Bucknor’s controversial decisions against the Indian legend in the past.
Bucknor, the legendary West Indian umpire known for his slow, deliberate decision-making style, earned the nickname ‘Slow Death’. However, his career faced significant scrutiny due to two high-profile blunders, at the Gabba in 2003 and Eden Gardens in 2005, involving Indian cricket icon.
Tendulkar posted an image of three trees, resembling big wickets, on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, asking his fans, “Can you guess which umpire made the stumps feel this big?”
And soon the post became viral as the legend’s fans started sending replies on the post naming Bucknor.
“10 years of retirement but not taking the names clearly to demean someone . The gentleman.”
“None other than Steve Bucknor the umpire and Mike Denness the Match Referee, the lethal combination who always did their best to get you!”
“The GOD of Cricket is in the Roasting Mood today!”
“This is exactly how the Steve Bucknor would be thinking about the stumps while giving you out LBW.”
The decisions made by Bucknor during those two crucial matches sparked significant outrage among fans and led to widespread criticism, despite Bucknor being regarded as one of the best umpires of his time.
In the 2003 Test between India and Australia at the Gabba, Bucknor controversially gave Sachin Tendulkar out LBW off Jason Gillespie, despite TV replays showing the ball would have gone over the stumps. This error was a major talking point as it denied Tendulkar a chance to continue his innings.
The second high-profile mistake came in 2005 during a Test against Pakistan at Eden Gardens. Tendulkar was given out caught behind off Abdul Razzaq, despite no contact with the ball.
The delivery, which swung away from Tendulkar, ended a promising innings and shifted the match’s momentum. Both incidents have remained significant moments of debate in cricket historycementing Bucknor’s legacy for his contentious decisions.
