Still believe I declared Sachin Tendulkar rightly out in 1999, opines Daryl Harper
21 years after the incident, Australian umpire Daryl Harper is still hell-bent on his ‘right’ decision to give Sachin Tendulkar out against Australia in the 1999 Test series. The former umpire also recollected how MSK Prasad during their meet had also admitted that Sachin too believed it was out.
In the First Test at Adelaide, the visiting Indian side were set a target of 396 runs to chase in the second innings. Whilst their top order crumbled under the pressure, the onus was Sadagoppan Ramesh and Sachin Tendulkar to resurrect the innings. However, when Glenn McGrath caught Sachin ducking to an awkwardly bouncing delivery, there was a deafening silence across the television sets in India.
Australian umpire Daryl Harper had given the Indian star out after the Australian pacer’s ball hit Sachin on his shoulder in front of the stump. That certainly ignited a long-standing debate and till date, is one of the widely discussed dismissals in the bizarre category. However, even after so much debate, Harper still is adamant that he gave the Indian out according to the rules of the game.
"You may be disappointed to know that I'm still extremely proud of that decision because I considered the action before me and applied the law without fear or favour,” Harper told Asianet Newsable.
"It was a very unusual dismissal. I've never seen anything similar and I've watched a lot of cricket over the years…but I still believe it was correct," Harper added.
Whilst Sachin Tendulkar had not uttered a word about the dismissal publically, Harper recalls his meet with former Indian selector MSK Prasad Down Under in 2018, where the Andhra man revealed that Sachin too felt it was the right decision. Incidentally, India went on to lose the series 3-0, on the back of their terrible batting display at the Adelaide Oval, in a series where Sachin was still India’s captain.
"We embraced each other as we did in pre-COVID-19 days with a generous and respectful hug. MSK was the first to speak. 'Sachin said he was out…Sachin said he was out', the Indian selector exclaimed excitedly. 'Well I thought he was too,' I confirmed.
"My decision followed an appeal. That's how cricket works. Players and umpire moved on. That's what I consider as the true Spirit of cricket. That's why I almost always enjoyed umpiring India and especially in India," he added.