Umpire Decision Review System

While Sri Lanka may be rejoicing at the thrashing that they have given to India in the one day match at Dambulla in Sri Lanka, they would have to reckon the support that was indirectly provided to them by shoddy umpiring done by their ex-team mate and now the umpire Kumar Dharmasena. It indeed is one of the most pathetic umpiring that has been witnessed in the recent times. One can always gloss over one error, but if it is repeated thrice over, it indeed is http://www.thesportsmirror.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpindicative of poor umpiring. Had Yuvraj, or Suresh Raina been around who knows, Sri Lanka might not have been able to win the match as well? To add to the irony was one more error done by Pakistani umpire Abdul Rauf, and India was all but defeated before the first ball was bowled by them to defeat their total.

It has been more than 18 years when technology was used as a facilitating tool by the cricketing authorities, but umpires still are reluctant to use it under the misguided belief that it would be statement against their wisdom and acumen on the ground.

While there may be a school of thought that the usage of television referral for controversial decisions is to keep the television audience in good humor, fact of the matter is that with the sophistication that technology has acquired the howlers are immediately uploaded in the cyber space and it compounds the problem for the umpires. So why bring a bad name for self? It was expected that when the cricket players who had played international cricket in the past would return to the ground as an umpire they would do a competent job, S. Venkatraghavan being the shinning example, but sadly enough after him the cricket playing fraternity who has subsequently taken up umpiring has not covered itself in glory.

Indian captain Mahender Singh Dhoni would now be ruing the decision of not allowing Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) to be used during the current season, as it is the Indian team which is facing the music now. May be, as television companies upgrade their operations they would also give a thought to factoring in the cost of URDS as a part of their broadcasting package as it is a costly proposition which ICC is not inclined to bear. But as television audience is dictating terms, may be time is not far-off when UDRS would become a part of the broadcasting package and things could become a little smoother.

By: Suman Rai

Tags: Cricket, Dambulla, India, Kumar Dharmasena, Sri Lanka, Umpire, Umpire Decision Review System, URDS