Umpire’s Decision Review System: The Latest Hullabaloo On Cricketing Field

Though the Umpire decision review system or UDRS or popularly known as DRS is not at all a new concept in the modern cricket, it has gained much of hype in the recent times. The second test between India and Australia, which the Indians won by a margin of 75 runs is a prime example of this massive uproar, that grabbed the interest of veterans from all over the world.

In this test, Indian skipper Virat Kohli accused the Australian skipper Steven Smith of looking at the Australian dugout for help, when one of the batsmen was given out and they had to decide whether to refer the decision or not.

This heated argument soon turned to be a massive one and rose to become the self-respect of the cricketing boards of the countries. The International Cricket Board had to intervene in between to cool the heated heads. ICC gave its verdict against the Indian accusations and said that Smith had done no wrong with what he did.

However, the matter has taken so much a height that it would require at least some time to cool down. No wonder, it could rise up again as there are two more matches yet to be played between India and Australia in the series.

Let us take a review of the Umpire Review System of the cricket with the points that it inculcates.

The UDRS system was first introduced to be followed in Test Cricket, to take into account the contentious decisions made on the ground by the on-field umpires for calling a batsman out or not out. The system was first tested in a match between India and Sri Lanka in 2008 and on finding it successful, ICC decided to launch it officially in November 2009.

After being successfully established in the test matches, the DRS system was also used in One Day International matches from January 2011. Though at first the ICC officials made it mandatory to be used in all kinds of international matches, later, it was agreed to inculcate the system only upon the prior agreement of the two teams before a series.

The DRS system has undergone a lot of amendments in the due course of its usage. The major change that it experienced was the recharge of two reviews of the teams after 80 overs in an inning of test cricket. Before this, the reviews ended for the inning if you make two unsuccessful reviews in the same.

The latest of the decisions on the DRS system is its usage in the T20s. In February 2017, the International Cricket Council had agreed to use the DRS in T20 matches too, with one review per side in each of their innings.

Components Of The DRS System:

When the player feels that the decision taken by the umpire could be overturned, he is allowed to signal to the umpire by a “T” signal made from his arms in 15 seconds. The on-field umpire then turns his way towards the third umpire and the third umpire could make use of the following technological methods to decide whether or not he has to go with the on-field umpire’s decision:

·         Hawk-Eye, Virtual Eye or Eagle Eyes: This is a kind of invention that tracks the path of the ball to decide if it was going to hit the stumps or not. If the ball has been interrupted by the batsman’s pad or some other object excluding the bat and the third umpire views it to be hitting the stumps virtually, he could offer the batsman out, unless it’s a no-ball.

·         Ultra-Edge: Ultra-Edge is the enhanced version of Snickometer. This technology creates four distinct frames and umpire looks at all the frames to offer the final verdict. Ultra-edge is even efficient to differentiate between the sounds of cloth, bat or pad of a person at the crease.

·         Hot Spot: This is the Infra-Red imaging system that portrays the contact of ball with the bat or pad. It is all due to the cameras on the ground that results in decision making and the system is experiencing continual betterment.

·         Real-Time Snickometer: It is a kind of system that uses directional microphones to grab the smallest of the sounds, which could either have been made by the contact of ball with the bat or pad.

With the use of all these new and reliable innovations, Umpires have been able to offer utmost correct decisions in a match. The DRS system is primarily used for the LBWs, when the ball hits the pad of a batsman and the umpire uses his experience to decide whether the player is to be given out or not.

If the decision is against the batsman, the concerned batsman has the right to ask for the review within 15 seconds. Else, if the batsman is given not-out and the fielding team with the bowler thinks the decision to be incorrect, they could ask for a review of the decision within next 15 seconds.

Even before the umpire checks any other thing concerning bat and ball, he is liable to check for the front foot of the bowler. If the umpire thinks that some part of the bowler’s front foot is not behind the stipulated line, he would straightaway give the ball to be an illegal delivery, without even looking forward at any other technological system for the decision.

Again, the umpires are always asked for their own verdict first before referring a decision. The decisions which clearly indicate that the on-field call was wrong would only be overturned. For marginally correct decisions of the on-field umpires, the third umpire would stay with the original decision.

When the decisions are overturned, you might have seen the umpires making a particular gesture of touching their shoulders. This is the signal that the decision that they took before this was wrong and it is to be overturned.

Though the use of DRS has been spot-on for the teams, the act of asking the dressing room for help on a particular decision is surely condemning and blots the spirit of the ‘Gentlemen’s Game’. The International Cricket Council might have given a clean chit to the Australian Skipper, all eyes would be on him when next time he takes the help of DRS. Subscribe us for latest sport news.