High time Indian cricket board embraced DRS

Ever since its foundation in 1861, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been in the vanguard of scientific and engineering research. Currently, it is judged to be the premier university in the world, ahead of both the University of Cambridge and London’s Imperial College which hold joint second place.

So, it might be said, given its reputation in the field of guidance system technology, that this is the go-to institution when there is a need for independent assessment of such things.

And that is just where the International Cricket Council (ICC), and the Sony Corporation, which is responsible for Hawk-Eye technology used in cricket and also across some other sports, the tracking used in the umpires Decision Review System (DRS), have gone in their efforts to persuade the Board of Control for Cricket in India, and more specifically the incredibly powerful voices of captain MS Dhoni and retired legend Sachin Tendulkar, that DRS works and is a benefit to the game.

The Indian board might be against it, but there’s denying the fact that the Hawk-Eye system has actually become incredibly good now — 10 times more so than when it was first trialled in 2008, and demonstrably accurate to within a single millimetre over a distance of seven metres, the general distance from a ball pitching and reaching the stumps.

Yet, despite the ever-improving nature of the equipment, India remains steadfast on its use. It cannot he used unilaterally in a series and, so it is reckoned, has now cost India considerably in the current series in Australia.

In the first Test in Adelaide, Indian batsmen Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane and Wriddhiman Saha all fell to disputed catches, decisions that could have been rectified by replay alone. Similarly at the Gabba, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravichandran Ashwin got bad calls that slow motion would have rectified.

Now though, there seems to be a softening in the Indian attitude. “We feel,” Dhoni said after the second Test in Brisbane which India lost by four wickets, “that there are a lot of 50-50 calls not going in our favour. We are at the receiving end more often than not.”

Then, interestingly, he added that “even when DRS is around, those decisions won’t go in our favour.”

“What is important is to use DRS to give the right decision irrespective of whether or not the umpire has given it out. If the ball is shown to be hitting the stumps it is out; if less than half the ball is hitting the stumps it is still out,” Dhoni opined.

It’s, of course, important that the DRS should not be allowed, in any way, to undermine the on-field umpires’ authority. If all decisions are referred then firstly there would be no need for on-field umpires beyond an ability to carry hats and make a box sign in the air; and secondly, the third umpire would require absolute specialist training.

All of this is being considered by the ICC’s DRS sub-committee, chaired by former Indian captain Anil Kumble, who was in charge of the team when the technology was first trialled, against Sri Lanka, and a considerable voice when it comes to this subject.

The onus is on Kumble now to persuade his country’s cricket board about the benefits of the system.