5 instances when the Indian team complained about poor umpiring

It is safe to say that the man most hated in Indian cricketing circles at the moment has to be the umpire Vineet Kulkarni. Kulkarni has earned the ire of the Indian team and the fans alike for a string of poor decisions in the India-South Africa T20 series and the first two ODIs. The Indians have now lodged a formal complaint against Kulkarni claiming that he had played a decisive role in India's defeats.Interestingly, whenever India have raised allegations of poor umpiring, India's decision to not adopt the UDRS has been intensely debated. While there have been occasions when the rest of the cricketing world considered India's allegations to be just an excuse for their poor performances, India at times have been at the receiving end of some very serious umpiring blunders.Here are 5 instances when the Indian team complained about poor umpiring.

#1 India-Australia Test series, 2007-08

Anil Kumble famously said on this occasion, ‘Only one team was playing in the spirit of the game’.

One of the most controversial Test matches in India's history has to be the second Test at Sydney during the 2007-08 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The match was marred by a serious of umpiring howlers and left the Indians seething in rage as India lost the match.

The appeal against Andrew Symonds for a caught behind was turned down even when replays suggested that he had clearly nicked the ball. Symonds went on to score 162 which turned the match on its head. Symonds was also later stumped by Dhoni but Bucknor, who was the square-leg umpire then, chose not to refer it to the third umpire.

The match saw a string of other bad decisions like a caught behind appeal against Ponting being turned down by Mark Benson and the third umpire Bruce Oxenford adjudging Symonds not out even when televisions replays clearly suggested otherwise. Bucknor had also wrongly adjudged Dravid out caught behind when the ball clearly hit his pad and Benson had, under controversial circumstances, given Ganguly out caught in the slips taking the fielder's word that he had completed the catch.

The Indian team management acting on the order of the Indian cricket board lodged a complaint against Bucknor with the match referee Mike Procter and Bucknor was removed from officiating in the third Test subsequently. In the post-match press conference, the Indian Test captain, Anil Kumble had famously remarked, “Only one team was playing in the spirit of the game” to which a section of the media present on that occasion broke into an unprecedented applause.

#2 India-Australia Test series, 2003-04

Steve Bucknor was India’s antagonist again in the 2003-04 tour

The acrimonious relationship between India and the Jamaican umpire Steve Bucknor has a long history but it came to a head during India's 2003-04 tour of Australia. In the first Test at the Gabba, Jason Gillespie came up with an over-adventurous appeal for an lbw even when the ball had hit Tendulkar high up on the thigh pad. When Gillespie had started walking back to his bowling mark, after what seemed to be an eternity, Bucknor raised that dreaded finger and left everyone gaping in surprise.

When the Indians were pressing for a series win in the last Test, Bucknor turned plumb leg before the wicket appeals against Justin Langer and Damien Martin. As the match and the series were drawn subsequently, the Indians were left extremely upset with Steve Bucknor. Bucknor had also admonished Pathiv Patel for excessive appealing in that series. The then captain, Sourav Ganguly severely criticised Bucknor and handed a strong report against him to the ICC.

#3 India-Australia Test series, 2014-15

The DRS debate had been re-ignited after the loss in the 2^nd Test of the most recent Australian tour

After India received a drubbing at the hands of the Aussies in the second Test at Brisbane during their 2014-15 tour to go 0-2 down in the series, questions were raised about some of the umpiring decisions in that match.

Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravichandran Ashwin were at the receiving end as two umpiring howlers adjudged them out under rather controversial circumstances. Pujara was given caught behind by Ian Gould even when replays showed conclusively that the ball had gone off the grill of his helmet. Ashwin was similarly given out caught behind when replays on the HotSpot showed the ball had gone off his thigh pad.

After the match, Dhoni said, "We are on the receiving end more often than not. What happens in DRS, even if DRS is around, those decisions won't go in our favour because if the umpire has given out and you take a DRS it's still out." Interestingly, this was the match which also witnessed the infamous dressing-room spat between Kohli and Dhawan which was also considered to be an important reason for India's batting collapse in the second innings.

#4 India-West Indies Test series, 2011

Umpire Daryl Harper was never a friend of Dhoni’s

The Australian umpire Daryl Harper earned the ire of the entire Indian cricket team because of some of the controversial decisions that he made during the first Test at Jamaica during the India-West Indies Test series in 2011. According to the Indian team, Harper made a series of mistakes including giving Kohli caught behind when he had not nicked the ball and adjudging Dhoni out even when Devendra Bishoo had cut the return crease in his bowling run up.

Though India went on to win the match by 63 runs, Dhoni could not hide his displeasure at the post-match press conference saying that the match would not have come so close but for the bad umpiring decisions. With reports pouring in that the entire Indian team were unhappy and a very senior player had reportedly lobbied for the Australian umpire to be removed subsequently, Harper withdrew from the last match at Dominica which would also have been his farewell Test.

Harper later went on to defend himself saying that he and Dhoni had not "share[d] many pleasantries in the match". Harper also added rather sarcastically, " West Indies expressed concern over Indian players' habit of charging at umpires when appealing, which is against the spirit of the game. I should never have applied the laws of cricket to Indian players."

#5 India-Bangladesh ODI series, 2015

India-Bangladesh clashes of recent times have been invariably plagued by umpiring controversies

After India lost the ODI series against Bangladesh earlier this year, questions were raised against the Bangladeshi umpires who had officiated in that series. Enamul Haque had given Ambati Rayudu out caught in the third ODI when the ball had missed the bat and hit his thigh pad instead. Tamim Iqbal was given the benefit of doubt by umpire Anisur Rahman under rather controversial circumstances when replays showed conclusively that Virat Kohli had completed the catch legally.

Also, after the infamous on-field collision between MS Dhoni and Mustafizur Rahman, the umpires had only reported Dhoni and left out Rahman which irked the Indians. According to inside sources, the Indians were infuriated at the supposed biasness of such decisions and even lodged a formal complaint with signatures of the captain MS Dhoni and the team director Ravi Shastri. Ironically, Bangladesh had been vocal in its protest against 'biased' umpiring after they lost to India in the quarter-finals of the World Cup earlier this year.