Two wrongs cannot make a right but they can be enough for an umpire to go down as it happened to C Shamsuddin, the man in the hot seat in Nagpur for having given Virat Kohli not out and Joe Root out
Bangalore: Two wrongs cannot make a right but they can be enough for an umpire to go down as it happened to C Shamsuddin, the man in the hot seat in Nagpur for having given Virat Kohli not out and Joe Root out.
On Tuesday evening rumours were floating around the Chinnaswamy Stadium here that Shamsuddin, one of the umpires designated for on-field duties for the third and final T20I game between India and England, would be replaced by original third umpire Nitin Menon.
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On Sunday evening, when Menon walked out with Anil Chaudhary the rumours became a fact. Shamsuddin had taken over the third umpire's duties instead. It may be recalled that England skipper Eoin Morgan had talked about taking up the matter with match referee Andy Pycroft.
However, the match referee as such doesn't have the powers to nominate or change the nominated umpires. That prerogative, as far as T20 cricket is concerned, lies solely with the BCCI, the host association, and there is no neutral umpire concept. So in effect, it has to be the BCCI that stood Shamsuddin down.
It couldn't be confirmed but apparently it was Shamsuddin himself, who asked to be relieved of on-field duties. The BCCI, on its part, responding to a query from mid-day, said that Shamsuddin was unwell and hence the change. He was deemed well enough for third umpire duties though.
Sources, however, told mid-day that the pressure had got to 46-year-old Shamsuddin and that he took a call to take on the relatively lesser role behind the TV set.
So, as it turned out, Joe Root's kind defence of Shamsuddin in Tuesday's press conference didn't assuage the umpire enough. Root, the batsman, who had been ruled leg-before despite an inside edge off the bat in the last over of the Nagpur T20I, had made it clear that he would have no issue with Shamsuddin continuing to officiate (not that Root has a choice as such anyway).
An Indian wicket had fallen before the first ball of the final T20I had been bowled.
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