Thaindian News

Mumbai, March 2 (IANS) The Indian cricket board Wednesday stood by captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, saying it is still not convinced about the Umpires Decision Review System (UDRS) in the World Cup.

Dhoni criticised the UDRS after England batsman Ian Bell was not given LBW during Sunday’s match in Bangalore despite TV replays showing that the ball was in line with the stumps. The incident happened when Bell was batting on 17 and he went on to score a valuable 69 that helped England chase down the target of 338 to tie the match.

The decision prompted Dhoni to say that “adulteration of technology with human thinking” was not a good idea. International Cricket Council (ICC) general manager (cricket) Dave Richardson reponded strongly, saying Dhoni was ignorant about the UDRS rules.

But the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) took strong note of Richardson’s comments and shot off a letter to ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat to express its displeasure about the UDRS.

In his letter to Lorgat, BCCI secretary N. Srinivasan wrote: “BCCI takes strong objection to Mr. David Richardson criticising the Indian captain M.S.Dhoni. Mr. Richardson’s comment that the Indian captain should know the rules is out of place. The Indian captain only highlighted the inadequacy of the system and rightly so.”

“It was there for the world to see. For ICC’s representative to criticise a player for his post match press conference while the World Cup is being played is tantamount to pressurising the player. Mr. Richardson has no right to do so. BCCI has strong reservations about the statement made by Mr. Richardson. He should be instructed not to react in this fashion,” Srinivasan said.

He said that BCCI has consistently opposed the usage of UDRS as it is not convinced about the technical adequacy of the system.

“A presentation made by Hawk Eye to BCCI where Mr.S. Venkataraghavan, former international umpire and Director of Umpires, BCCI, was present was not convincing and the supplier of the technology themselves
felt ‘a leap of faith’ was necessary in order to accept the system.

“The inadequacy of the UDRS has been exposed in the CWC 2011. The group stage match between India and England was a case in point which clearly brought out the inadequacy of the system. ICC in consultation with Hawk Eye formed playing conditions which specifies when the umpire can rely on Hawk Eye and when he cannot. This itself is an admission on the question of reliability of the system including ball tracking technology,” Srinivasan said.