With no cricket going around and everyone in isolation for personal safety, many players and coaches are seen spending the free time on social media giving interviews and talking with fans online. Former Australian umpire Simon Taufel did an interview with Outlook where he praised the Indian Cricket team’s former opener Virender Sehwag saying that the opener had an excellent temperament adding that he monstrosity of the occasion did not affect the opener much.
“I always enjoyed umpiring and working with players like Sehwag. He had an excellent temperament he could score 300 or 0, and he would be the same person standing next to me at square leg. He very rarely got emotionally hijacked and his cheeky humor always shone through.” he said.
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Simon Taufel recollects his memory of the Test match in Multan where the squash buckling opener became the first Indian cricketer to hit a triple century. It was Taufel who gave the signal as Virender Sehwag hit offspinner Saqlain Mushtaq over the midwicket region for a six and reach his triple hundred.
“I was very lucky to have umpired that match in Multan with David Shepherd and Ranjan Madugalle both good men and strong in a crisis. Their experience helped me a lot in a significant series like this. I did not remember that one of my signals was responsible for Viru’s triple hundred. My notes tell me that Sourav Ganguly was ruled out of the match with injury and Rahul Dravid took over as captain,” Taufel said.
Simon has the honor of being the ICC Umpire of the Year for five years in a row. After which Taufel decided to hang up his boots and retire from umpiring back in 2012. He also mentions his memories of Virender Sehwag’s knock as it was the first triple-century he had witnessed in his career as a professional umpire.
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“I tended not to get involved in a player’s skill during a game and focused only on what myself and my umpiring team needed to do. I do though, remember Viru’s achievement as a triple century is significant, so much so, that I did not remember Sachin Tendulkar’s 194 not out [in same innings],” he said.
