espnstar.com’s Rajarshi Gupta spoke exclusively to umpires Daryl Harper and Rudi Koertzen on the challenges umpiring in India.

Harper, one of the most respected umpires across the world is a pleasant man to talk to. However, bring up the debate on the Sachin Tendulkar dismissal in a Test of the 1999 series and the Australian firms up his brows.

Did he apologise to Sachin for an apparent error? “I never apologised to Sachin because it was a correct decision. I have never apologised to any player in 27 years of my career.”

It has been a decade since Tendulkar was shown the ‘finger of death’ in Test Down Under but the fire refuses to dowse.

Recently, there were murmurs that Harper had perhaps apologised to the Little Master for the ‘mistake.’

Now then, we are talking of Tendulkar, who is God to millions of cricket crazy fans in the country. When he walks back, it had better be for a good reason. The pressure on any umpire, therefore is immense and imagine what goes through a foreign official standing in India.

“I remember an incident at the Eden Gardens, where Sachin got a faint edge off Shoaib Akhar and the Pakistanis went up in appeal. There were 90,000 spectators screaming down my neck. My heart was in my mouth but fortunately I got it right,” Harper said.

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However, it is a different story behind the scenes and Harper is in awe of the man, who has carried the expectations of an entire nation for two decades.

“Sachin has never complained to me for any decision. All the criticism has come from other quarters but the man himself has been a thorough gentleman.

Umpires are humans and like players they do make mistakes. Sachin, having been around for so long realises that.”

Harper, who has been around in the international circuit since 1994, feels it is a different challenge, officiating in India.

“27,000 spectators in India are noisier than 90,000 Aussies. People in England are more conservative and don’t make a lot of noise anyways, so it is not difficult umpiring in England” Harper pointed out.

Harper’s counterpart from South Africa, Rudi Koertzen agreed with Harper but said despite the challenges in the country, India was a great place to tour.

“People show us so much love and affection in India that it is almost embarrassing at times but like a lot of other international umpires, I love touring this place.”
Both Harper and Koertzen maybe seasoned professionals but both were astounded by the passion with which fans back their team. If it is Sachin Tendulkar and India at work, even the best in the business need to look out.

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