Howzzat? Who cares?

Gautam Gambhir thinks it's a good thing to be able to challenge umpiring decisions, since matches then won't be lost due to mistakes by the officials.

Fair enough call from him. Now we can attribute all losses to poor performances by the cricketers, not the umpires.

Now that we can challenge the umpires as well, what next? Might as well legalise underhand bowling again, and allow players to take swings at each with bats and stumps. Who needs the rules anyway.

The irony of it all comes from the fact that its the International Cricket Council that has thought up this one, and is 'thankful' to India and Sri Lanka for letting themselves be used as guinea pigs, come July.

Not however, for one second to suggest that the cricketers will be particularly displeased, if umpiring decisions could be legally questioned.

The one thing that kept some sort of sanctity alive in cricket was that the umpires' call was final. Granted, they made mistakes, and some like Steve Bucknor made howlers, but the fact remains that one institution that kept some sort of sanctity alive in cricket.

With effect the India-Sri Lanka series, that also will be questioned.

So what causes this kind of decisions to be reached and implemented? Could it be because of the consistent mistakes, real or imagined, made by the umpires? Or does it find root in the fact that the cricketers have largely made huge issues of any mistakes, real or perceived, made by the umpires?

Whatever the reasons may be, one thing remains constant. The umpire is no longer king, and that in a way, is sad.

It is normally taken for granted in cricket that the wicketkeepers and umpires are doing a good job, as long as they were not noticed. But in the era of TV, the one-point programme seems to be to put a camera on the umpire (or two, or three) and keep waiting for him to make a mistake.

More often than not, it seems that one mistake alone change the fortunes of all series, as the losing side will hark that one 'disastrous' decision, which cost them game, set and match.

The rest of the muck supplied by the batsmen, bowlers and fielders are never considered to be reason enough for the series defeat. Blame the umpire.

Take a look at our now-famous Australian series. Mr. Bucknor was the reason why we lost the Test series, not our disastrous batting display in Sydney, where the 'world's best' batting line-up couldn't play out 72 overs on the last day.

Regardless of how big cricket has got, or how great the stars are, this does not go down well. Sure, this is old school though process, but this is one I stick to.