Melbourne, Jul 14: Controversial Australian umpire Daryl Harper, who was criticised by the Indians for his poor decisions during the first Test against the West Indies, today hit back at captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, accusing him of trying to intimidate him during the match.
Harper, who was forced to withdraw from the third Test following criticisms from Indian players, said Dhoni should have been penalised for his comments on poor umpiring, adding that he was forced to break his silence following ICC's inaction.
Harper said Dhoni tried to intimidate him after paceman Praveen Kumar was removed from the attack for repeatedly running on the pitch.
According to Cricinfo, Harper said that Dhoni approached him and said “we've had problems with you before, Daryl”, which the umpire interpreted as an attempt to intimidate.
“I decided what he meant was that I was one umpire not influenced by any personalities or teams or boards. He hadn't been able to intimidate me, I think that was part of it,” Harper said.
Harper also said that Dhoni should have been punished for his comments at the post-match conference.
“If the correct decisions were made the game would have finished much earlier and I would have been in the hotel by now,” Dhoni had said.
“That was my opinion (that he should have been censured), those were inappropriate comments .. I think that's definitely inappropriate,” Harper said.
Dhoni's criticism was described as “unfair” by the ICC general manager of cricket David Richardson, but neither he nor the match referee Jeff Crowe elected to charge the Indian captain. PTI
