Tigers unhappy with umpiring
Sport Reporter
The Bangladesh cricket team's management was seriously considering lodging an official complaint against the umpiring in the second Test against India in Chittagong which the Tigers lost by an innings and 83 runs, according to reliable sources.There were two decisions in particular which the team management felt cost the home team dear and made it easier for the Indians to complete victory with nearly two full days to spare. Replying to India's 540, Bangladesh at 300 for six were on course to go past the follow on target of 340 on Day Three with Mohammad Ashraful and Khaled Mashud both fully set. But then a Zaheer Khan delivery went atleast three inches past Mashud's bat but the Indians appealed hearing the sound of the bat hitting the pad and to the bemusement of the batsman, Pakistani umpire Aleem Dar gave him out caught behind. Just 12 runs later, umpire Mark Benson of England adjudged Mohammad Rafique caught by Rahul Dravid at short gully off paceman Irfan Pathan after the ball had clearly gone off his left shoulder. Those were hefty blows for Bangladesh and they eventually fell seven runs short of avoiding the follow on. There were several other controversial rulings in the match going against both teams but the feeling in the Bangladesh camp is that when they are up against a proven side like India, poor decisions do not even out at the end of the day. "The team management feels that the umpiring was inconsistent in the second Test and Bangladesh had to suffer more because of poor decisions as they do not have the experience of team's like India to recover from umpiring errors. Besides, there were enough elements of doubt in certain decisions which should have gone in the batsmen's favour," said the source. It was learnt that the captain's report to the match referee might carry the observations.
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