Legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar posted a cryptic and sarcastic tweet on Saturday, as he shared a picture on social media. Tendulkar revoked memories of several fans as he stood in front of a big three-trunked tree, and pretended to shadow-bat as if they were the stumps. However, it was his caption that got fans discussing. “Can you guess which umpire made the stumps feel this big?” captioned Tendulkar, causing fans to name some of the umpires who’ve made unfavourable decisions towards him. Former West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor’s name even started trending.
Can you guess which umpire made the stumps feel this big? pic.twitter.com/oa1iPvVza1
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) November 16, 2024
Several fans replied with former umpire Steve Bucknor’s name, who had infamously had multiple errors in judgment leading to Tendulkar being given out wrongly.
None other than Steve Bucknor the umpire and Mike Denness the Match Referee, the lethal combination who always did their best to get you!
— Sumit Agarwal (@sumitagarwal_IN) November 16, 2024
Steve Bucknor
— Tushar Gupta (@Tushar15_) November 16, 2024
Steve bucknor
— WrestlingStock (@wrestlingstock) November 16, 2024
Bucknor, who stood as an umpire in 128 Tests and 181 ODIs, and even in five consecutive ICC Cricket World Cup Finals (between 1992 and 2007), had given Tendulkar out leg-before-wicket (LBW) wrongly in 2003 against Australia.
Happy Birthday Steve Bucknor.
128 Tests, 181 ODIs.
Stood in 5 successive World Cup finals (1992-2007).
Refereed in football World Cup qualifier.
Was quite controversial in the later part of his umpiring career.
— Cricketopia (@CricketopiaCom) May 31, 2024
In an era which did not have the Decision Review System (DRS), Bucknor’s incorrect decisions drew the ire of Tendulkar and Indian fans across the globe. Since his retirement, Bucknor has also admitted to getting some calls wrong when it came to Tendulkar.
Later, in 2005, Tendulkar was given out caught behind again by Bucknor despite the ball clearly not touching the bat.
Due to the sheer volume of fans who reminisced and responded to Tendulkar’s post with Bucknor’s name, Bucknor started trending on X.
Bucknor – who played football as a youth for Jamaica – had an umpiring career that spanned 20 years. Bucknor last umpired in 2009, and is currently 78 years old. He became the first umpire to stand in 100 Test matches.
Tendulkar’s tweet comes less than a week before India take on Australia in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth.
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