Hawk-Eye Innovations has defended the accuracy of its tracking technology used during the Cricket World Cup's most controversial umpiring moment, when an lbw decision against Sachin Tendulkar was reversed during India's semi-final against Pakistan.
Ian Gould gave Tendulkar out lbw to Saeed Ajmal and shook his head with mystification when the decision was overturned on referral – a moment that may have cost England's leading official his chance to umpire in the World Cup final.
Conspiracy theories abounded. Ajmal claimed he had bowled an arm ball that Hawk-Eye had somehow misread and there was even speculation that the wrong delivery had somehow been super-imposed, perhaps as part of a deliberate plot.
Stephen Carter, the managing director of Hawk-Eye Innovations, has now published details of the Tendulkar reprieve on the company's website to counter the rumours.
"The path Hawk-Eye showed was accurate and the Decision Review System was used correctly to overturn the umpire's original decision," Carter said. "The Hawk-Eye track lines up perfectly with the video of the real ball from release to impact point.
"The commentators said on air that Tendulkar had been 'caught on the crease'. From the front-on angle it does look like Tendulkar has been hit when batting in his crease. However, Tendulkar was almost two metres out of his crease when struck."
The analysis seems to disprove Ajmal's contention that he bowled an arm ball, with the line clearly showing a slightly turning off-spinner.
Carter said that Ajmal also bowled this delivery from wider on the crease than any other ball in his spell – evidence not in their report to the International Cricket Council – which backs up Hawk-Eye's analysis that the ball would have missed leg stump.
As to the suggestion that the wrong ball was superimposed, Carter regards that as the sort of lurid theory that could develop only in an India v Pakistan World Cup semi-final. "Theoretically it is possible but in a practical sense you couldn't superimpose a wrong ball," he said. "It would not line up perfectly and it would be perfectly obvious to everybody."
Hawk-Eye routinely sends the ICC a study of any decision that is overturned on referral and this is passed down to the umpire for further analysis. "The system is devised so that umpires can have all the feedback they need," he said.