This is the first post of the ICC STINKS series of posts on Naman Zone. I’m totally furious after the second ODI between India and England. Yesterday, I was disgusted to see Sachin Tendulkar’s dismissal at a score of 99 runs. The umpire probably had a fight with his wife in the morning and transferred his frustration onto Sachin Tendulkar. A short-pitched bouncer from Flintoff hit Tendulkar’s elbow and the ball carried to the wicket keeper. Sachin Tendulkar clearly indicated to the umpire that the ball had made contact with his elbow. When the stupid and idiotic umpire gave him out, he stood in front of him in disgust for a few seconds hoping for a reversal that never came. The umpire didn’t care to bother the third umpire and ruined Sachin’s innings with his idiotic decision. Perhaps the umpire wasn’t on speaking terms with the third umpire. Who knows, the umpire might have a problem with Sachin Tendulkar.

Here are three of Sachin’s last 5 innings scores-93, 99 and 99. The figures speak perfectly about what Sachin has been through. Sachin Tendulkar has always been the victim of poor umpiring. He has been dismissed 13 times for a score between 90 and 99. I’m sure majority of these were wrong decisions by stupid, illiterate and incompetent umpires like the one in yesterday’s match.

When a batsman like Sachin Tendulkar is shaking his head over an umpire’s decision, he isn’t doing it because he has a survical pain or he wants to build his neck muscles. You need to take the players seriously. I don’t want to say that the umpires should discriminate between players. What I want to say is that an umpire should think twice when there is an element of doubt. You can’t just call it a human error and get away with it. The umpire should be made to face the consequence of his decision.

As far as ICC is concerned, it should keep a check on the umpires and should make some changes in the rules. It’s about time the use of technology is increased. I’ve had enough of stupid, arrogant and dumb umpires. The player’s should be allowed to challenge the umpire’s decision like they are allowed in tennis. This is the only way to keep the players and bloggers like me happy. This is all about Sachin’s torture.

Think of it this way, a youngster is tortured the way Sachin was yesterday. For instance, he faces a wrong decision at a score of a duck. The consequences could be disastrous. The match could slip out of the hands of the batting team. His career could be ruined. He’ll be left with his statistics, which would not have a column saying-“Number Of Wrong Decisions faced”.

Despite of the unfair competition between India XI and England XII (Obviously I’ve counted the stupid umpire), India managed to score 329/7, a total that is very difficult to chase. Thus, India ended up winning the match by restricting England to 320/8