When Sehwag embraced an umpire for right decision

Mumbai: If umpires’ decisions are given undue respect with advancement of technology such as Decision Review System (DRS) and Hawk Eye, here comes an incident where an umpire was embraced after he gave the right decision last year during a Ranji trophy match between Delhi and Punjab at Feroz Shah Kotla.

The batsman was none other than Team India’s Virender Sehwag.

I officiated that Ranji one-dayer. Players such as Sehwag, Gambhir, Chand, Nehra, and from Punjab Jiswanjot Singh, Yuvaj Singh and Harbhajan Singh were fighting for a berth in the Indian Cricket team,” said Marcus Couto, a BCCI Panel Umpire, who has officiated over 1200 domestic matches and two women’s international matches in his 37 years said.

In the evening after nets, two days before the match, Sehwag came and greeted me. I told him I have a plan to start a cricket school like his in Bombay, a school where children can play cricket and also study. He told me to come to his school in Jhajjar (a district in Haryana). I told him I would go the next morning,” Marcus added.

The story goes on.

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The car came exactly at 6. It’s a long distance from Delhi to Jhajjar. I went there and I saw the school set up. He didn’t tell me the plus points, he told me the weaknesses. I reached back in the evening and the next day was the match.”

And then the incident, thousands of fans at the stadium would never expect.

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During the initials overs he was out caught behind and it was not a sneak, it was a cut. I gave him out, he waited. I wondered whether I have made a mistake. And all the thoughts about the school visit came flashing back. Viru waited and came running with the bat to me. ‘Sir kal kya tha khane mein, namak kam tha ya mirchi jyada thi?’ (Sir, what was in your food yesterday, was it a less of salt or a lot of chillies?). I told him, ‘Viru, public ko lagega ki hum ne galat decision diya aur pitwowge’ (Viru, the crowd will think that I’ve given a wrong decision and you will hammer me). Immediately he embraced me to indicate that nothing was wrong, all this on the field of play,” Marcus’ tone dipped while finishing his tale by the affection shown towards him.

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Marcus was responsible for discovering Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli's 664-run partnership in the Harris Shield tournament in February 1988 which was a world record.