IPL's howler brigade

India's inability to find quality umpires is nothing new

The great Dickie Bird celebrated his 84th birthday earlier this week. Even after all these years, Bird is still the most recognisable on-field cricket official in the history of the sport. Such was the veneration he enjoyed that when he decided to call it quits in 1996, he received a guard of honour from India and England in his final Test match at Lord’s, an exceptional piece of recognition mostly not reserved for umpires, and perhaps only matched since by the affection bestowed upon Rudi ‘Slow Death’ Koertzen when he hung up his boots in 2010.
 
In a 2014