Sachin Tendulkar referrals to be voted in by television audience (Satire)

MUMBAI—

The glaring error made by television broadcasters while replaying different camera views of a referred Sachin Tendulkar dismissal in the IPL has prompted tournament CEO, Sundar Raman, to propose a unique, innovative solution.

Every time an appeal against the master batsman is referred to the third umpire, the replayed feed will be telecast to television viewers prior to the third umpire.

Viewers will be provided a number to text where they will vote on whether the batsman is out or not.

The audience poll will close in five minutes flat.

Action replays will then be displayed to the third umpire. Should the umpire still be unclear about his decision, he can opt to look at the audience poll results.

Should he still be unable to decide which way to go, he will then be allowed to ‘call-a-friend’. The helpline will connect him directly to Sachin Tendulkar.

Once the cricketing great makes his opinion known, the box umpire will make his final call.

Not only will this make the decision transparent and palatable to the viewing and paying public, it will provide additional revenue to the IPL in the form of a marketing tie-up with ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’.

The music for this round of entertainment (or disruption) will be sourced from the hit programme.

The IPL governing council will decide in its next meeting whether to give the plan a go-ahead.

Amitabh Bachchan agreed to be the compere in this mini-drama.

The trial run will involve only the Mumbai Indians’ skipper. Should the trial be successful, the rule will be extended to other franchisees and their key players.

(The characters in this story are real but the facts and “quotes” are not. You knew that already, didn’t you?)

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