Umpire Daryl Harper Recounts His Decision To Give Sachin Tendulkar Out In Adelaide 1999 That Triggered A Controversy

Former international umpire Daryl Harper has opened up on his debatable decision on giving Sachin Tendulkar out during the first Test in Australia in 1999, resulting in him scoring a duck. When the Indian team travelled down under — they looked listless as ever. While Australia completely outplayed India in all the departments, the then Indian skipper Sachin Tendulkar was the highest run-getter for his team with 278.

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And Daryl Harper’s decision irked massive backlash amongst the Indian fans as Sachin was already being recognized as the God of Cricket. It was the Master Blaster, whose performance single-handedly worked wonders on many occasions. As for his controversial dismissal, it transpired in the first Test at the Adelaide Oval.

Spearhead Glenn McGrath fired a bouncer to which Sachin ducked and the bill hit the batsmen’s shoulders. As per the rules book, the umpire still deemed it as LBW and Daryl Harper went as per that to adjudge the captain as out. That ended up sparking a huge outrage and Harper opened up about the aftermath.

The veteran umpire brushed off concerns about having nightmares about the decision; however, asserted by saying he does not regret it. The Aussie stated that he applied the law during that situation without any fear or biases, labelling it as a correct decision in his viewpoint.

“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. 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 said in an interaction with Asianet Newsable.

The retired official further said that relating to the accuracy of the decision; the Indian did not note it while assessing the performance on the post-match paperwork. Harper remembered realising that around one-sixth of the population knew his name and was not in their good books.

“That’s what umpires are trained and expected to do. Regarding the accuracy of the decision, 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.I recall realising that suddenly one sixth of the world’s population knew my name…and they probably didn’t speak very highly of me,” he continued.

It was a very unusual dismissal: Daryl Harper

The 68-year old recalled meeting with former Indian chief selector MSK Prasad in December 2018 when India Australia played in Adelaide. Daryl Harper mentioned that both had not seen come across each other since that 1999 clash in Adelaide.

“In December 2018, I met Indian selector MSK Prasad during a 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,” the South Australian claimed.

The Indian selector claimed Sachin’s words who stated he was out. Harper responded to the same by adding that he thought that was out as well while commenting that it was the most unusual dismissal and had not seen anything like it.

“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. 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,” the veteran added.

I went on to umpire India in 26 Tests and 44 ODIs all over the world: Daryl Harper

The South Australian went on to say that despite the controversial decision he has always been on good terms with Sachin Tendulkar. He continued by mentioning that players and umpires have moved on, which he considers as the true spirit of cricket. Concluding the chat, Harper said that the fact that stakes are high, he enjoys umpiring in and India.

“I went on to umpire India in 26 Tests and 44 ODIs all over the world. I can’t recall ever discussing that specific decision with the great man, but I believed Sachin and I were always on good terms. 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,” Daryl Harper signed off.

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