'7 mistakes, are you kidding me?' - Irfan Pathan lashes out at Bucknor after umpire admits to errors in 2008 SCG Test
Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has lashed out at umpire Steve Bucknor for his performance in the controversial Sydney Test of 2008.
The match saw India lose to Australia after being in a commanding position early on, largely due to the poor umpiring of Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson. The West Indian even admitted to making two mistakes recently, and stated that they have haunted him since.
On Star Sports' show Cricket Connected, Irfan Pathan addressed Bucknor's apology and stated that it is now too late to apologise for the errors. The Baroda man expressed disgust at the fact that as many as 7 errors from the umpires cost India the game.
“No matter how much you accept your mistakes, what’s done is done, we lost the Test match. And losing a Test match, just because of umpiring errors? Not going to make any difference, no matter what umpires say now,” said Irfan Pathan.
"This Sydney Test match, it was not just one mistake. There were about seven mistakes that cost us the game. There were mistakes where Andrew Symonds was playing, and he got out nearly, I remember, three times, and the umpire didn’t give him out," he added.
'Unbelievable and indigestible' - Irfan Pathan laments wrong decisions
Irfan Pathan further added that the fact that so many errors had been made was quite hard to digest.
“It was not just frustration. For the first time, I saw Indian cricketers were angry. Fans had only one thing in mind – that they [umpires] were doing it purposely. Obviously, as a cricketer, we can’t think like that," said Irfan Pathan.
“We’ve to think, ‘OK. These things happen, and we’ve to move forward’. But seven mistakes? Are you kidding me? That was unbelievable and indigestible for us,” he added.
The 2008 SCG Test saw Andrew Symonds repeatedly adjudged not out despite clear evidence otherwise. On the other hand, Indian batsmen Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly fell victim to more incorrect decisions favouring Australia. The Test was also witness to the infamous 'monkeygate' scandal involving Symonds and Harbhajan Singh.