England’s repeated doubts about DRS misplaced

DRS’ ball-tracker shows the ball would have hit the leg-stump.

Third Test, fourth day (Rajkot): Crawley is dismissed LBW off Jasprit Bumrah in England’s second innings though the replays appear to suggest the ball would have missed the stumps upon batter’s review. But DRS upholds the on-field umpire’s decision.

Fourth Test, fourth day (Ranchi): Joe Root is dismissed LBW off R Ashwin in England’s second innings though in replays, a significant part of the ball appears to have pitched outside leg. DRS says the ball had pitched more “in” than “out”.

Playing domestic cricket good directive, but to penalise Kishan, Iyer for it not correct: Kirti AzadThat’s one three many unfavourable decisions for an English side to handle. Not that it would have made any difference to the 3-1 series scoreline in India’s favour even if those dismissals had gone the other way. But the visitors kicked up a storm with both skipper Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum weighing in with their views.

After Crawley’s dismissal in Rajkot, Stokes called for the abolition of Umpire’s Call. Following Root’s fall in Ranchi, former England captain Michael Vaughan called for fixing cameras and microphones, besides deputing an ICC official, in the Hawk-Eye truck to prevent host broadcasters from potentially manipulating the technology to favour the home team!

Such contentious decisions obviously leave teams at the receiving end of such verdicts questioning the reliability of the technology, India included. It’s, however, one thing to question technology but quite another to insinuate doctoring of the system, like Vaughan did.