Mumbai: Australia cricket legend Adam Gilchrist believes that the inclusion of the Decision Review System (DRS) will help minimise the human errors made by the on-field umpires.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was the only cricket board that had opposed DRS in the past. However, the Indian cricket board accepted the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) improved version of DRS, which was used for the first time in a bilateral series on India, on Wednesday, when Haseeb Hameed was adjudged to be LBW off a Ravichandran Ashwin delivery.
Although Gilchrist was not initially in favour of DRS, the former Baggy Green wicketkeeper lauded BCCI’s decision to accept the use of technology in cricket.
“I wasn’t a big fan of it (DRS) when it initially came in. But (I’ve) now realised that it (DRS) is inevitable,” said Gilchrist, speaking exclusively to Deccan Chronicle, after rewarding an Indian student of the Wollongong University with the Donald Bradman Foundation scholarship, in Mumbai, on Thursday.
“Its here to stay. And I think that it’s fantastic that India have joined the rest of the cricketing world,” he said. “The DRS has been brought in to try to eliminate the really bad decisions, the big mistakes, the big blunders, which like players, umpires sometimes make. And DRS is certainly is doing that.”
There has been a controversy about the DRS, with many experts claiming that the ball-tracking technology is not completely foolproof. Gilchrist believes that there should not be a grey area in decisions such as these.
“I don’t have a readymade solution on how to better it. My solution to that kind of an LBW decision is, if it’s hitting the stumps and if it’s hitting in line, regardless of what the umpire has said on the field, its out,” said Gilchrist.
“If the whole cricketing world says ‘do away with it all’, I won’t be a disappointed man. But I don’t think that’s a reality now. I think its here to stay, for the reason of those clear cut bad decision, I thing that most of the players will feel comfortable with that.”
