Indian umpires have improved, players should appreciate their work, says Simon Taufel

Kolkata, May 28: Retired Australian umpire Simon Taufel expressed disappointment over the fact that Indian players perceive, just like the general fans, that Indian umpires were not meeting global standards.

The 44-year-old former umpire, considered one of the best in the business, told ESPNcricinfo in an interview here that players should "appreciate and show equal empathy for the difficult nature of our job, appreciate that better umpires get it right, that we are human beings after all."

Taufel, who is currently training Indian umpires as ICC Umpires and Performance Manager, said umpires from India have shown a big improvement despite the fact there are no Indian umpires on the ICC's Elite Panel.

Recently, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is otherwise known for his cool temperament, criticised umpire Richard Illingworth's leg before wicket (lbw) decision against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batsman Dwayen Smith, calling it "horrible". The CSK captain was fined for his comment.

Taufel said the player should give constructive feedback about shortcomings of match officials instead of hitting out at them. He said he would love to see players and captains coming together to improve the umpiring standards in India and not aggravate the problem. He praised the Board of Control for Cricket in India for trying to addressing the issue several years ago by installing videop cameras, the ESPNcricinfo report said.

Taufel, whose umpiring skills were admired, advised players to tell whether the umpires on the field looked to have lost concentration and couldn't communicate effectively and not that he had missed this many numbers of caught-behinds and lbws.

A massive controversy had broken out over an umpiring decision during the India-Bangladesh quarter-final match of the ICC World Cup in Melbourne in March. Pakistani umpire Aleem Dar judged an uppish delivery against Indian batsman Rohit Sharma to be an invalid one although video footage later showed that it was within the permissible limits.

Sharma, who was batting on 90 then, was caught but he wasn't dismissed since the ball was declared to be a 'no'.

Sharma went on to score a century and helped India win the match. The decision led to such a controversy that even the then ICC president Mustafa Kamal accused the body of being biased. The umpires were criticised in sharp terms, forcing the ICC to alienate itself from Kamal who resigned in April.

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