The Decision Review System (DRS) is currently one of the most controversial topics in world cricket due to its ambiguity. After being introduced in Test cricket in 2008, DRS was later adopted in ODI and T20I cricket in 2011 and 2017 respectively. DRS was one of the main talking points during the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy apart from the pitches. Speaking at the India Today Conclave, batter Sachin Tendulkar expressed his disappointment with the umpire’s call in the current DRS format.
“I totally disagree with the current format, if the ball hits the stumps it’s out and if not then the batter continues to hit. they go to the third umpire. Then why do they go back to the decision of the referee on the field? If you’ve decided to go that way (with technology), go that way. But what we’re trying to do mixes both things and I disagree,” Tendulkar said.
Tendulkar further shared his thoughts on this and said that he would have loved to use DRS during his playing days.
“Quite a lot, I couldn’t count them on my fingers for sure (when I asked him how many times he would have referred to DRS if it existed during his playing days). I would have loved it, hands down. Some decisions go into your advantage, some also go against you,” he added.
Tendulkar further suggested that technology, like humans, is also not infallible, adding that the referees were already making huge blunders even before the introduction of the DRS.
“We’re just pointing the finger at technology, but it’s not infallible and neither are people. Before DRS, blatant mistakes were made and because of those mistakes and because a third person decided the lot, games were lost or won.”, he signed off.
Topics mentioned in this article
