MSK Prasad Refutes Daryl Harper's Claims On Sachin Tendulkar's Controversial LBW Decision
Published - 26 Jul 2020, 05:51 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 10:03 AM
MSK Prasad, former Indian wicket-keeper and chairman of selectors, has refuted former umpire Daryl Harper’s claims that he had told the former Australian umpire during their meeting in 2018 that Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar agreed with his controversial LBW decision- famously called as ‘Shoulder Behind Wicket’- during the 1999 Adelaide Oval Test.
Daryl Harper had recently opened up about his controversial call to give Sachin Tendulkar LBW during the 1999 Test series, adding that he is still proud of his decision. He also revealed that he had met MSK Prasad, who was a part of the Indian team during the 1999-00 rubber, in 2018 where the former chairman of selectors had told him that Sachin himself agreed with his decision.
“In December 2018, I met Indian selector M.S.K. 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,” Daryll Harper had told Asianet Newsable
“We embraced each other as we did in pre-COVID-19 days with a generous and respectful hug. M.S.K. 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,” he added.
“Daryl had been carrying the guilt about the decision for quite long”- MSK Prasad on Daryl Harper’s claims
Replying to Harper’s claims, MSK Prasad, in a recent interview with Mumbai Mirror. Prasad said that while he met Harper back in 2018 but the former chairman of the selector revealed that the content of their conversation was very different and that Harper had asked him about the reaction in the dressing room after he gave Sachin out in a controversial manner.
“Daryl had been carrying the guilt about the decision for quite long. He met me in the lunchroom during the 2018 (India-Australia) Test series. He actually asked me ‘what was the feeling of Sachin’ when he was adjudged LBW, which had erupted into a huge controversy,” MSK Prasad said.
“Then I told him whether you declared him out or not out, Sachin is not a person who will question umpires. That is why he went on to become a role model for all of us and the God of Indian Cricket,” he further said.
When asked about the reaction in the dressing room after Tendulkar’s dismissal, Prasad said that “The overall impression in the dressing room was that of shock.”
