by Abhishek Mukherjee
The ongoing ICC Men's World T20 Qualifiers do not have television umpires.
I am not talking about DRS. Television umpires. They have justified this on the grounds that not all matches are being televised (and hence all venues do not have live coverage facilities), the reason falls flat given the amount of money they make. It would not have required a lot of effort or money to install equipments on all venues.
Of course, thanks to quizmasters, television umpires will forever be associated with Sachin Tendulkar. Back on the 1992-93 tour at Durban, he had made the cardinal sin of pushing a ball next to Jonty Rhodes and setting off.
The inevitable followed. Under normal circumstances, Cyril Mitchley would probably have given Tendulkar the benefit of doubt. However, he now had an option.
So he referred to the television umpire. After a couple of minutes the green light (not red, they changed that a few years later) flashed. And Tendulkar walked back.
That television umpire, Karl Liebenberg, turns 72 today (October 22, 2019).
He is probably not watching the ongoing tournament, but if he is, he cannot be too happy about a 27-year-old tried-and-tested technology not being used in a tournament of such importance.