I look back at that Sachin Tendulkar decision every day of my life: Daryl Harper
Sachin Tendulkar is widely respected in Indian cricket, and rightly so as there was a time when he used to win games for the team single-handedly. There was a time when the hopes of the Indian fans would rely entirely on the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar.
On one such occasion in the Adelaide Test between India and Australia in 1999, Sachin Tendulkar was controversially given out LBW by Harper off the bowling of Glenn McGrath. Sachin Tendulkar tried to duck in response to a short ball by McGrath, but the ball did not bounce as much as the batsman anticipated and the ball struck him on his shoulder.
Daryl Harper took his time but eventually gave Sachin Tendulkar out. Although this decision triggered a heated response from the Indian fans, Daryl Harper still believes that he had made the right decision.
“I look back on that Tendulkar decision every day of my life.It’s not that I sleep badly or have nightmares and replays dancing through my brain. When I walk through my garage I am confronted by a huge canvas print of Sachin and Glenn McGrath, taken momentarily after the ball made contact. You may be disappointed to know that I’m still extremely proud of that decision because I considered the action before me and applied the Law without fear or favour,” Daryl Harper was quoted as saying by Asianet Newsable.
One-sixth of the world’s population knew my name after the Sachin Tendulkar decision: Daryl Harper
Daryl Harper feels that although he was not in the good books of many Indian fans after that controversial decision, at least he was on the minds of many people and was suddenly famous. Harper revealed that he was so distracted by the occasion that he made a mistake of counting the number of balls in McGrath's over.
Former Indian chief selector MSK Prasad, who was the wicketkeeper in that game, met Daryl Harper during a Test match between India and Australia in 2018 and he let him know that even Sachin Tendulkar himself felt that he was out.
“We embraced each other as we did in pre-COVID-19 days with a generous and respectful hug. MSK was the first to speak. ‘Sachin said he was out…Sachin said he was out’, the Indian selector exclaimed excitedly. ‘Well I thought he was too,’ I confirmed. It was a very unusual dismissal. I’ve never seen anything similar and I’ve watched a lot of cricket over the years…but I still believe it was correct," Harper asserted.
Thus Daryl Harper is still firm on his opinion that despite the external pressure, he was right in Sachin Tendulkar's decision, and he believes that it was one of the best decisions of his umpiring career.