Mirpur:
The use of umpiring devices like ear-piece doesn’t please India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni at all as he feels such a technology prevents the on-field officials from hearing snicks and edges in a packed stadium.
Bangladeshi umpire SIS Saikat failed to detect a nick from Khurram Manzoor’s bat off Ashish Nehra’s bowling in yesterday’s India-Pakistan Asia Cup clash and Dhoni wasn’t happy about the goof-up.
Asked about umpiring, a sarcastic Dhoni said, “You don’t want me to get banned before World T20. You have all seen umpiring. It’s your call.”
“(But) One thing certainly should be done. Umpires now use walkie talkies as well as wear ear piece in one ear which effectively means they are umpiring with one ear. It’s a difficult job. One needs to consider this. They are hearing with one ear. I believe there is no point having a ear piece when the bowler is bowling as you don’t need to use it then. It’s better to use both ears as a lot of things might happen on the field,” the Indian skipper said at the post match press conference late last night after India’s five-wicket win over Pakistan.
Dhoni was in a mood to take dig at match officials as another innocuous question about his tips to bowlers was caught on stump microphone.
“It’s very interesting you know. Match referees say that microphone is off when there is a situation of one guy from one team saying something to the other guy. But it is very strange that whenever I say something, they always catch it.
“Something may be very fishy from my side or match referee’s side! For example, okay this guy used a word that should not be used and we find mike is off but whatever I say, mike is always on,” Dhoni said.
