DRS bid ‘quashed’ after India object
CRICKET: Cricket’s latest bid to make decision review technology mandatory for all Tests and one-day internationals has been swiftly quashed after opposition from powerful India, a report said.
Agence France-Presse
Friday 29 June 2012, 09:31AM
The recommendation by chief executives was not put to a vote and “came and went without a murmur” at the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) board meeting in Kuala Lumpur, the ESPNcricinfo site reported, citing people present.
The board meeting was chaired by India’s Sharad Pawar, who is the ICC president. India was the only country to object to the measure, the authoritative website said.
The report comes after India publicly rejected the new recommendation for mandatory use of the Decision Review System (DRS), which employs ball-tracking and thermal-imaging technology to check whether batsmen should be given out.
“The BCCI continues to believe that the system is not foolproof,” the Board of Control for Cricket in India said in a statement on Monday.
India, including star batsman Sachin Tendulkar, have been deeply suspicious of DRS since a number of reviews went against them in their 2008 Test series with Sri Lanka, when the technology was on trial.
And India, who provide the lion’s share of global cricket revenues due to their huge fan-base, torpedoed a similar bid for mandatory DRS at last year’s annual ICC talks, where it was controversially made optional.
Other countries have voiced strong support for the technology. This week, both Pakistan and Sri Lanka called for compulsory DRS after a rash of contentious decisions marred the first Test in Galle.
“It should be made compulsory for every game,” said Pakistan captain Mohammed Hafeez.
On Monday, cricket’s chief executives said independent testing had proved the accuracy of DRS, and recommended it for all Tests and one-day internationals provided host nations can afford and obtain the equipment.
It was not known if the issue would be raised again at the ICC board meeting, which concludes on Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s ICC Council meeting in the Malaysian capital.
Separately, South African-born former England captain Tony Greig urged India to use its wide influence for the good of the game, accusing it of being “preoccupied with money” during a lecture at Lord’s in London.
“Much of the game is controlled by the BCCI because it controls enough votes to block any proposal put forward at the ICC board meetings,” said Greig, who described himself as a strong supporter of DRS.
“The spirit of cricket is more important than generating billions of dollars; it’s more important than turning out multi-millionaire players; and it’s more important than getting square with Australia and England for their bully-boy tactics towards India over the years,” he added.
India has also rejected proposals to reform the ICC put forward in a self-commissioned review, which strongly criticised its “members’ club” structure.
