Even after 12 years of his international retirement, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar has remained a lifetime follower of the game. Tendulkar closely monitors cricket matches worldwide, particularly those involving the Indian team, and stays informed about changes to the game’s regulations and playing circumstances. Tendulkar stated that the Umpire’s Call under the Decision Review System (DRS) ought to be eliminated in a conversation on the social media site Reddit.
A fan asked the 52-year-old what cricket rule he would like to see modified during an open discussion on his official Reddit page. “DRS, which has been implemented with heavy use of technology, has had its fallacies,” the cricket player quickly said. The decision should therefore only be based on whether the trajectory indicates that the ball is striking the wickets whenever ball tracking shows the umpire’s call.
“I would modify the Umpire’s Call DRS regulation. Because they were dissatisfied with the on-field umpire’s call, the players decided to walk upstairs. Therefore, there shouldn’t be a way to return to that call. Similar to athletes, umpires also experience rough periods. Sachin stated on the well-known social media platform that “technology, even when it is inaccurate, will be consistently inaccurate.”
The batting mainstay had already expressed his opinions over the Umpire’s Call decision. Tendulkar had previously argued that the DRS calls should favour the fielding side in cases involving Leg Before Wicket (lbw) dismissals in an interview with West Indian great Brian Lara. In a sport where batters predominate, he had encouraged the International Cricket Council to make moves in support of bowlers.
“The DRS that the ICC has been utilising for a while is one thing that I disagree with. For the on-field decision to be overturned, more than 50% of the ball must be striking the stumps, which is known as the LBW decision. In a video chat with West Indian great Brian Lara, he had stated, “The only reason they (the batter or the bowler) went upstairs is because they are unhappy with the on-field decision. So when the decision goes to the third umpire, let the technology take over; just like in tennis – it’s either in or out, there’s nothing in between.”
For the trivia, the third umpire has declared Sachin Tendulkar out, making him the first cricket player in history to do so.
The Mumbai-born player, who made his debut in the late 1980s, has experienced several periods of transition, so it would be interesting to see if ICC heeds his advice.
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