It is often said that to err is human and if larger-than-life personalities can err then why not umpires. After all, they are human, flesh and blood, with a conscience and a lot more.

Yes, a lot is at stake at a Twenty20 match. A single stroke which goes for a massive boundary or one solitary ball form that mightily lucky bowler can change the course of the match. And this doesn’t only happen once. Strangely, in the 40-over match, such changes can happen repeatedly at times. In such conditions the role of the umpire is very important, sticky and at best controversial.

Factor in the lightning pace of match, and the toll on the umpire builds up. In a pressure cooker situation the best of humans can suffer slips of judgement. Though umpires are well trained in their field and at times have years of experience behind them, we need to realise that they will commit mistakes. These mistakes need to be taken as human error.

'The job of an umpire is stressful and if we add to it such impossible demands, only the worst should be expected'


I don't expect the umpires to get it right on every LBW or caught behind and it is humanly impossible for an umpire not to make an error or have an error proof record, and to expect such a record or performance match after match is not on. The job of an umpire is stressful and if we add to it such impossible demands, only the worst should be expected.

At best, the umpires should consult the third umpire, but technology can also mislead us. In the crunch match between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab, there were several contentious run out decisions that the Mumbai Indians claimed cost them a place in the semi-finals.

Well, there has been proof in various matches that even the best of technology can backfire. Before the foolproof hawk-eye was introduced in tennis the umpires and the officials were completely error prone.

On clay, these errors can be successfully rectified but on hard courts and grass they are compounded and cannot be easily rectified. Fortunately, hawk-eye is very precise so the errors have been cut down considerably.

Twenty20 matches have so much at stake. Every ball and every bat swing changes fortunes but then we cannot put the blame on the umpires. At best we can bring enormous technological change which can guarantee an absolutely fair decision.

Wee need to accept that umpires will make mistakes. It is possible that a few matches might swing completely in some other direction but then again, it is a part of the game to suffer reversal of fortunes for external causes.

For the time being we need to take that fact in our stride. It's a case of swings and roundabouts.

The game shouldn't be about pinpointing mistakes but be played in the spirit intended.