Umpires apologise to Umar Akmal over lbw howler India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

On-field umpires of ICC Champions Trophy semi-final match between Pakistan and New Zealand, Simon Taufel (Australia) and Ian Gould (England) have apologized to Pakistani batsman Umar Akmal for their faulty lbw out decision. The News quoted an ICC source as saying that heated arguments were exchanged between Pakistan coach Inrtikhab Alam and the umpires during a hearing conducted after the semifinal at The Wanderers. Match referee Javagal Srinath called Akmal and Alam for a hearing after the match, over what umpires blamed the batsman for showing dissent over the lbw decision. Taufel ruled Akmal lbw in the 41th over when he had played the ball on to his pads. His fall at a crucial stage robbed Pakistan of a chance to post a big total. Srinath also cleared Umar of showing any dissent and conveyed that the umpire who had made the decision to say 'sorry' to Umar for the wrong judgment. According to a theory doing rounds in the Pakistani camp, the biased umpiring against Pakistan was a result of an Indian monopoly in the ICC. They added that some of the Indians believe that Pakistan had deliberately kept India out of the semis race as they did not go all out to achieve win against Australia that could have enabled them make it to the semis.