Virender Sehwag Will Be Same Person After Scoring 300 Or 0: Simon Taufel

Who do you remember as the best umpire of all time? David Shepherd, Billy Bowden, Steve Bucknor or Simon Taufel. All of them were right up there. And it has been nothing less than privilege to watch this gentlemen take on the field and do what they are best at doing.

In an interaction with Outlook, Taufel who retired young, spoke about Virender Sehwag and lauded his temperament as a batsman.

Enjoyed umpiring players like Virender Sehwag: Simon Taufel

Simon Taufel has umpired some of the finest players. But, by his own admission, he liked to work with players like Virender Sehwag due to their temperament. Taufel said, Sehwag could score 300 or 0, his temperament will still remain the same. This was one aspect about Sehwag which made him different. Moreover, the former opener, would hardly show emotions.

“I always enjoyed umpiring and working with players like Sehwag,” Taufel told Outlook. “He had an excellent temperament – he could score 300 or 0, and he would be the same person standing next to me at square leg. He very rarely got emotionally hijacked and his cheeky humour always shone through.”

One of my signals was responsible for Viru triple: Simon Taufel

When Virender Sehwag made history in Multan becoming the first Indian to score a Test triple century, Taufel was one of the match official. He recalled that one of his decision was responsible for his historic feat.

“I was very lucky to have umpired that match in Multan with David Shepherd and Ranjan Madugalle (match referee) — both good men and strong in a crisis. Their experience helped me a lot in a significant series like this,” Taufel recalled.

“I did not remember that one of my signals was responsible for Viru’s triple hundred. My notes tell me that Sourav Ganguly was ruled out of the match with injury and Rahul Dravid took over as captain,” he added.