By IANS
Sydney : South African umpire Rudi Koertzen continues to make “embarrassing rash of bloopers” and the latest example was his giving India’s Rohit Sharma out caught behind against Sri Lanka Tuesday when bowler Muttiah Muralitharan did not even appeal, the media reported Wednesday.
Sharma was later fined 10 percent of his One-Day International (ODI) match fee for standing his ground after being given out in the Commonwealth Bank Triangular Series in Brisbane.
“Frustrated India were struck by another umpiring blunder as the fading finger of death, Rudi Koertzen, produced his latest howler to infuriate the tourists in the washed-out match against Sri Lanka at the Gabba,” wrote Daily Telegraph.
“It continued an embarrassing rash of bloopers for the South African official, who robbed (Kumar) Sangakkara of an almost certain Test double century against the Australians in Hobart with another error,” it said.
The paper urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to sack him.
“Koertzen has been on thin ice since last year when he was a key figure in the World Cup final farce in the West Indies and surely it is time for his bosses at the ICC to cut their losses,” it said.
Sharma, 20, playing only his sixth ODI, failed to score.
“Rookie batsman Rohit Sharma was incredulous to be gunned out by Koertzen despite missing a Muttiah Muralitharan ‘doosra’ by a wide margin. The spin wizard did not even offer an appeal for caught behind, but Koertzen was convinced by a shout from Sri Lankan keeper Kumar Sangakkara,” it wrote.
“Replays showed he had missed the ball and India were again bemoaning the umpiring after a Test series where they had West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor sacked. The normally reliable Sangakkara was ruing dropping a diving chance off (Gautam) Gambhir when the Indian had scored just 11.”
The paper further said: “However, Koertzen’s latest blunder was a major talking point and continued one of the themes of the summer.”