Benefit Of Doubt

This was my last match. After a span of 12 years now, i had decided to take retirement from International umpiring. My last one day international match hence happened to be, on my choice, between India and West Indies. At 67, i had seen enough cricket till now to be not nervous about the fixture, but the situation changed my behavior.I was not in my groove. I was restless and anxious. My career as an umpire was a hugely respected one and all players were aware of my decision before the match started. They had planned a farewell party for me after the match, but that was not even on my mind right then. I was extremely keen on going through the match smoothly without a hurdle and without making any major mistakes.
I must agree and confess, that i have made mistakes in my life, i mean as an umpire. Some of them were debacles. Initially, when i was 55 and new, i could not gather whether a ball was pitching on or outside the leg stump. Numerous times on television replays i would be embarrassed for something i had confidently adjudged earlier. I was also not great as a leg umpire when it came to run outs, but thankfully the third umpire would come into play then and i would be saved from further embarrassment. But as years went by, just like a musician improves on his speed at which he plays the instrument with rigorous practice, i too improved on my reflex decisions. I was slowly but surely getting more and more accurate at tough calls, in which perhaps i had less than half a second to see the action and take a decision. In the last three years of my career, i was just brilliant, with all my modesty. I trusted my eyes like Bengal trusted Ganguly!
My last match began with India losing the toss and having asked to field first. There was hardly anything for me to do to be honest in the West Indian innings. Only 5 wickets fell in the whole innings, out of which one was a clean bowled and 4 were simple catches in the outfield. The West Indians set a target of 279, for the Indians to chase. I was still not thinking of the farewell party, rather i was so deeply involved in the match that now i was almost more of a biased spectator who wanted India to win. I did not want my country to lose the last match of my career. Wouldn't it be such a fitting end to my journey, if i see my country victorious too on the same night of my retirement?
Indian openers started the chase finely with boundaries at frequent intervals without getting dismissed. Sehwag lost his wicket to an out swinger as he nicked it to the keeper and i raised my index finger towards the sky on the appeal for caught behind. This was infact the first decision of Out i gave in that match. Dravid and Yuvraj fell cheaply after that, leaving the maestro Mr. Tendulkar on crease with the skipper, Dhoni. With Raina and Y Pathan to follow, things were still looking healthy if these two could remain on crease for a while. But Dhoni and Raina departed in quick succession again after a 60 run partnership between Sachin and the skipper. Now Sachin was left alone with Y Pathan new on crease. Sachin was half my age, but where had he taken the game to, really, i mean exhibition stuff! How could i not have been a fan of his, watching him so closely for more than a decade now, just from about 22 yards away. And as thoughts of his winning India the match single handedly flashed across my mind, with less than 10 overs to go, he nicked one to the keeper and it was so loud that no one even appealed and he left the crease on his own and began walking back to the pavillion. But then he stopped, and turned back. He heard something that made him stop. I was screaming on top of my lungs, NO BALL! NO BALL! The West Indian team had gone so crazy after the dismissal that they went berserk with their Caribbean celebrations and could not hear me. After almost a couple of minutes they realized that Sachin was declared not out and the whole team came running towards me like an angry mob looking for its docile prey. I explained them that it was a No ball because the bowler had overstepped.
The television replays are evidence to the fact that i was wrong with my decision.But this time, it was deliberate!