Sachin Tendulkar was hit on the shoulder while ducking into a Glenn McGrath bouncer and umpire Daryl Harper raised his finger. (Screenshot/Twitter)
In a career spanning almost two decades, Australian umpire Daryl Harper became a veteran of 95 Tests, 174 ODIs and 10 T20Is. However, he is more often than not remembered for a dismissal that has since become synonymous with his name.
Adelaide Oval in 1999 was the venue when Harper declared Sachin Tendulkar out after the Master Blaster was hit on the shoulder while ducking into a Glenn McGrath bouncer. Unsurprisingly, he also became one of the most hated figures in India for that one particular decision. Recalling the incident, Harper admitted that he still stands by it and was probably the right decision.
“I look back on that ‘Tenducker’ decision every day of my life. It’s not that I sleep badly or have nightmares and replays dancing through my brain. When I walk through my garage I am confronted by a huge canvas print of Sachin and Glenn McGrath, taken momentarily after the ball made contact,” Harper was quoted as saying by Asianet Newsable.
“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.”
“Sachin was the Indian captain at that time and ICC officials informed me that he didn’t note that decision when he assessed my performance on the standard post-match paperwork.”
“In December 2018, I met Indian selector MSK Prasad during lunch at Adelaide Oval during the Australia-India Test match. We probably hadn’t seen each other since that Test 20 years earlier at the same beautiful ground. MSK was the Indian wicketkeeper, playing in his fourth Test when he took six catches in the match.”
“Sachin said he was out…Sachin said he was out,” the Indian selector exclaimed excitedly. “Well, I thought he was too,” I confirmed.”
Earlier, this year Glenn McGrath had spoken on the decision and said, “Sachin was batting and I think he had still not scored many runs or was still on zero, having just come in. I bowled him a bouncer and Sachin is not the tallest guy going around.”
“The bouncer will generally bounce and clear him quite easily, but that day when it bounced, it kept low and he ducked it and it hit him on his shoulder. And because he is not very tall, when he ducked it… from where I could see, I could see the bails over the top and it was hitting the middle stumps.
“So, I appealed and the umpire gave him out and he was not happy. So he walks off. Is it LBW? Probably, it should have been SBW or Shoulder Before Wicket,” McGrath said.