Sachin Tendulkar, no matter that he retired from International cricket 12 years back, is strongly linked with the game. Ex-Indian cricket batter keeps track of games across the world, but more so of games where Team India is part of and in the same breath, however does make sure he stays up to date along with all new rules/conditions(Hence). In a recent post on Reddit, he was quite vocal on the Decision Review System (DRS) and has the Umpire’s Call scrapped totally in order to bring more clarity and fairness into the game.
A fan asked the 52-year-old what cricket rule he would like to see modified during an open discussion on his official Reddit page. “DRS, which has been implemented with heavy use of technology, has had its fallacies,” the cricket player quickly said. The decision should therefore only be based on whether the trajectory indicates that the ball is striking the wickets whenever ball tracking shows the umpire’s call.
“I would change the DRS rule on Umpire’s Call. Players have chosen to go upstairs because they were unhappy with the on-field Umpire’s Call. Hence, there should be no option to go back to that call. Just like how players have bad patches, umpires too have bad patches. Technology even when inaccurate will be consistently inaccurate,” Sachin said on the famous social media forum.
Sachin Tendulkar Urges ICC to Favor Bowlers in LBW DRS Calls
The batting mainstay had already expressed his opinions over the Umpire’s Call decision. Tendulkar had previously argued that the DRS calls should favor the fielding side in cases involving Leg Before Wicket (lbw) dismissals in an interview with West Indian great Brian Lara. In a sport where batters predominate, he had encouraged the International Cricket Council to make calls in favor of bowlers.
“One thing I don’t agree with, with the ICC, is the DRS they’ve been using for quite some time. It is the LBW decision where more than 50% of the ball must be hitting the stumps for the on-field decision to be overturned. The only reason they (the batter or the bowler) have gone upstairs is because they are unhappy with the on-field decision, so when the decision goes to the third umpire, let the technology take over; just like in tennis – it’s either in or out, there’s nothing in between,” he had said in a video chat with West Indian luminary Brian Lara.
Sachin Tendulkar is the first cricketer in history to be called out by the third umpire. The Mumbai-born player, who made his debut in the late 1980s, has experienced several periods of transition, so it would be interesting to see if ICC heeds his advice.
