Lorgat criticises Indian team for attack on Harper

New Delhi: Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his teammates drew flak from the ICC for their criticism of Australian umpire Daryl Harper with the game's governing body saying it was "unfair and unjust" on an elite official.

Lorgat was critical of the Indian team for its criticism directed at controversial Harper, who chose to step down from his farewell Test (the ongoing India-West Indies third Test) after being lambasted by Dhoni for his bloopers in the first Test.

"There is no doubt Daryl received a lot of unfair criticism after the first Test in the series and in the wake of that he informed us that he did not wish to stand in what would have been his final Test. That is most unfortunate and also unjust on an elite umpire whose statistics reflect a 96 per cent correct decisions in Tests involving India," Lorgat said.

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"As a matter of fact this is better than the international average for top-level umpires. We were content for Daryl to finish the series and while we regret his decision we do respect it," he added.

Lorgat said umpiring in Test cricket was a difficult task and he felt sad that Harper was deprived of a befitting farewell.

"Umpiring at Test level is no easy task and I personally feel sad that Daryl was deprived of the opportunity to sign off in a manner befitting someone who has been a servant to the game as an elite umpire for many years. His international debut was way back in 1994."