India, Oct. 3 -- There are dubious decisions, there are poor decisions, and then there are blunders. But what umpire Nitin Menon pulled off in the Asian Games bronze medal match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh was straight out of the 1990s, when officials would turn a blind eye and dish out one atrocious decision after another. Sri Lanka batter Nuwanidu Fernando wasn't even born when subcontinental umpires would give those ridiculous calls, but he unfortunately lived through one of them when Menon, the only Indian umpire in ICC's 12-member elite panel, suffered a brainfade for the ages.

Trying to hit the ball through the covers, Fernando missed, leaving a clear gap between the two. Surprisingly, Bangladesh went up in an appeal, and even...