BCCI accepts diluted umpire review system

NEW DELHI: The Indian cricket board's long-standing showdown with the International Cricket Council over the Umpire Decision Review System seems to have been resolved, for the time being, with both sides treading a middle path over the contentious use of technological aids in the game. The ICC's chief executives' committee meeting in Hong Kong, which concluded on Monday, also recommended some path-breaking tweaks in the game.

The changes, if approved by the ICC executive board, will be unrolled from October 1. These include significant modifications to make ODIs more engrossing - like the use of a new ball from each end and making it mandatory for teams to take their elective powerplays between the 16th and 40th over.

Runners, long an integral part of cricket, will be outlawed from all forms of the game. An injured batsman can no longer ask a teammate to run for him. Recommendations have also been made for stricter penalties for captains guilty of slow over rates.

But the agreement on DRS hogged all the attention. The ICC has made its use mandatory, but removed the ball-tracking technology - which BCCI opposes - as an essential component of the system.

The compromise on the vexed UDRS issue is clearly a case of give and take between India, cricket's financial muscle, and the game's world body to resolve a damaging row which was threatening to split member nations.

Under the agreement, teams will be allowed to make one incorrect challenge to an on-field umpire's decision instead of the two challenges currently in use.

For the first time since 2008, Indian players will be using the DRS in the series against England in July. The BCCI, which has for long maintained that tracking tools like Hawkeye were unreliable, has accepted the use of infra-red cameras and audio-tracking devices.

"Once ICC understood our concerns, the BCCI had no issues in accepting the use of DRS," board vice-president Rajiv Shukla said. "Board president Shashank Manohar and secretary N Srinivasan made their reservations clear about some of the aspects of the DRS."

These reservations included Hawkeye and similar ball-tracking tools which will now only be used as a "bilateral agreement" between two willing nations.

Amid these attempts to resolve the issue, the modified DRS raises its own questions. While DRS has been made mandatory, the ICC has said that it is to be used subject to availability and cost considerations. Clear decisions on the huge cost-sharing process between host boards and broadcasters too are yet to emerge. The power of referral in leg-before decisions involving the line of the ball too has been taken away from the player and the final decision restored to the on-field umpire. The widespread availability of Hot Spot, a costly infra-red device to determine ball-deflection, too seems to be an issue.

England's ODI skipper Alastair Cook welcomed India's move to embrace the DRS, saying, "I believe DRS helps get more right decisions. I think technology to get those decisions right is the best way forward."

While it is likely to be an uphill task for the ICC to resolve outstanding issues amicably, what is clear is that the DRS is here to stay, and can only grow wing in future. With BCCI muscle in place, the approval of the executive board now seems a formality.

Meanwhile, minnows were given another lifeline after they protested against the ICC's decision to make the World Cup an exclusive, 10-team club, and a qualification process has been recommended for them without elaborating on the number of teams.

Salient features of ICC's cricket 2.0

ICC recommends a slew of changes in cricket. These proposals will be sent to the ICC executive board for ratification...

Yes to UDRS, no to Hawkeye

A restricted version of DRS, minus ball-tracking technologies like Hawkeye which predict the path of a delivery, will now be used in all Tests and ODIs DRS permitted to use infra-red cameras (Hot Spot) and audio-tracking devices. Number of unsuccessful reviews reduced from two to one. New system to be used in India-England series. Hawkeye can be used in bilateral series if both sides agree.

Victory for BCCI?

Indian board's grouse against DRS was Hawkeye, which it said was unreliable. ICC has taken care of this concern. ICC said 'expert' research will be carried out on accuracy of ball-tracking technology.

Will new rules plug controversy?

Unlikely. Questions remain on implementation. ICC has made DRS 'mandatory' subject to 'availability' and 'affordability'. Grey areas abound. LBW decisions will, in practice, go out of DRS ambit. Without technologies like Hawkeye showing where the ball had pitched, the third umpire won't have the tools to adjudicate. Availability of Hot Spot is an issue. Costs vary from $5,000 a day to $60,000 per match. A pact on cost-sharing between board and broadcasters seems unlikely.

Goodbye to runners

No runners to be allowed for injured batsmen in any form of the game.

ODIs tweaked

Elective Powerplays (batting or bowling) can only be used in 16th to 40th over. Two new balls to be used per innings. ICC members encouraged to try innovations in domestic matches like increasing maximum overs for bowler; increasing number of short balls per over and changing number of fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle in different periods of play.

Minnows get lifeline

ICC recommends a qualification process for the 2015 World Cup but is silent on the number of teams in the event

TOI

2nd Test: Munaf may lead three-pacer attack

BRIDGETOWN (Barbados): After a long time - considering fitness, strengths, weaknesses and the overall mindset where Tests are concerned - India will head into a game with a three-pronged pace attack. Munaf Patel, who missed the first Test because of a minor elbow injury, is back to fitness and along with Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar, the bowler will lead India's attack.

Munaf's return to the squad will be at the cost of leg-spinner Amit Mishra, who picked three wickets in the first Test but was eventually found to be lacking the aggression and attacking instincts needed on a good spin-assisting wicket at Sabina Park.

In the last three years, India's pace attack has largely revolved around Zaheer Khan, either assisted by Ishant or Sreesanth, but both of them together on rare occasions. It is perhaps for the first time in the last three years that India will head into a Test with three pace bowlers which does not involve Zaheer and with one of the bowlers (Praveen) just one match old. Keeping in mind the busy season ahead and the confidence that Dhoni is ready to show in these pacers has to be a good sign for India's young bowling attack.

Munaf bowled for about an hour in the nets, stretched, engaged himself in a rigorous fielding session and interacted with Simons, Ishant and Praveen for long during a hectic training schedule on Sunday and Monday. As it turns out, the bowler wasn't so injured ahead of the Sabina Park Test so as to miss the game but Dhoni thought better in resting him than to play and risk aggravating his injury.

Now fresh and looking to find his feet back, Munaf says he's "feeling good after the rest". Such is the bowler's history with frequent injuries that despite making his Test debut in 2006, Munaf has played just 12 Tests, the last being 2009 in Wellington, New Zealand. Even if Munaf plays the Barbados Test, it seems unlikely that Dhoni will put the bowler on duty to bowl long spells. The right-arm pacer at the most may bowl six to seven overs at a stretch and then get removed from the attack to refresh himself. The last thing India want is an unfit Munaf heading to England.

"We have a lot of important series coming up this year," says Dhoni, talking of the tours against England and Australia later this year.

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Gavaskar slams ICC ban on runners

NEW DELHI: Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar has slammed the ICC's decision to abolish runners for injured batsmen in one-day cricket, saying even bowlers should not be allowed to have water as rules should be the same for everyone.

The ICC's Executive Committee has decided to do away with runners for injured batsmen in ODIs and Gavaskar said if that is the case, it should be stringent for the fielding side as well.

"I would also like to suggest that there should be no water for bowlers at the boundary end. They bowl one over and come to the boundary where energy drinks are waiting for them," a miffed Gavaskar said.

Gavaskar said if the ICC feels having runners for injured batsmen is not fair then it should also consider doing away with the drinks breaks and the concept of substitute fielders.

"There should be no drinks breaks that are usually scheduled after one hour or so. If you are going to make a situation like this then there should not be any substitute fielders either," he said.

"There should not be a substitute fielder when a regular player goes off the field. If a fielder gets injured or has cramps, he should either go off the field or stay there. That ways it balances out everything and the batting side is not the only one affected," he said.

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Indian players happy with modified DRS

BRIDGETOWN: The Indian team has given a thumbs up to the Decision Review System (DRS) in its revised form which makes the ball-tracker technology optional in bilateral series.

"It's so good that the tracker system has been done away with. It was the tracker system which was the bone of contention for us," said a senior member of the side after the team practice on Monday.

In the ICC Executive Committee meeting in Hong Kong, the usage of UDRS was made mandatory for both Tests and one-dayers across all countries.

However, the decision was made with a rider: the ball tracker system -- a technology which measures the progress of a delivery after it leaves the hand of a bowler -- is not mandatory.

It implies that if a country disagrees, the UDRS will be used without the tracker technology in a bilateral series.

Thus the UDRS system without the tracker technology will be used in India-England series beginning next month. The present series between India and the West Indies is being played without the UDRS system.

The cricketer explained why the Indian team and BCCI were resistant to the tracker system of the UDRS.

"The tracker system has an inherent flaw. First, the cameras are not exactly in a straight line behind the umpire. Two, the height of delivery after pitching can never be accurately measured by technology.

"Strong wind, change of pace, the uneven bounce can all cause major difference to the height of a delivery when it reaches stumps.

"And, by the way, what's the guarantee that a producer monitoring the tracking system hasn't fiddled with the system on his own?" questioned the cricketer.

The cricketer cited Sachin Tendulkar's "dismissal" at Mohali in the World Cup semifinals against Pakistan earlier this month as an example of how the system can go wrong.

Tendulkar was first ruled out leg-before-wicket to Saeed Ajmal but when the batsman asked for a review, the UDRS showed the delivery to be missing the leg-stump by the thinnest of margins.

"Many who saw the replays were not convinced that Sachin wasn't out. Even though it benefitted us, it was clear the technology was flawed. Producers who manage the tracker system can make an error judgment.

"The technology might be good but we have to remember that it's a man who operates it. And so it's back to human element. In such a scenario, it was better that on-field umpires made decisions and not a technology which wasn't fool-proof."

The current modification in the rules state that hot-spot and stump microphone will now be used to make clear judgment on nicks. A nick, or the lack of it, can now be ascertained by eye as well as ear.

For example in the first Test in Jamaica, even cricket expert Ian Bishop acknowledged that Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli were wrongly given out and a snickometer or hot-spot could have ruled out the decisions.

The UDRS in its modified form will help eliminate wrong bat-pad decisions. It will not be a help in the lbw decisions because the tracker system has now been done away with.

TOI