DRS controversy strikes again in the second ODI of the VB Series
The second ODI between India and Australia sparked a debate on the DRS usage once again. In the first game, George Bailey who would have been out in the first ball went on to score a hundred, which turned instrumental in his team’s victory.
MS Dhoni, the Indian skipper commented after the first match of the ongoing Victoria Bitter series that 50-50 decisions were going against India. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been opposing the usage of the Decisions Reviewing System (DRS) in matches involving India.
"I tell you what DRS should be; it should be the decision-making system," Dhoni had said during the press conference after the previous match. "If you see the deviations in DRS, there are quite a few deviations, even the makers agree that there's a bit of deviation that can happen. Now you have to also take into account whether it was given not out or not. If it's given out, it needs to touch the stump, if it's not out, then half the ball needs to hit the stump. That itself makes the variables too big and in cricket every inch matters, it's millimetres that really matters.”
Rohit Sharma was given not out yesterday despite getting an edge.
The right-handed Indian opening batsman was batting at 89 when the Aussie side appealed for his wicket. Joel Paris successfully lured the opening batsman forward and the delivery appeared to touch an edge before being caught by the wicket-keeper.
The fielders and the bowler appealed in unison and were on the verge of celebrating an apparently clear dismissal. All this went in vain as Australian umpire Mick Martell shook his head, much to the frustration of the 25,000 strong crowd and Aussie players on the field. Sharma went on to score 124 in the match.
Replays showed a significant movement on the Real Time Snicko which caused more unrest among the spectators. The home team, however, won the match, land lead the series by two matches.
Dhoni stuck to his opposition to DRS technology in the press conference after yesterday’s match. BCCI president, Shashank Manohar had previously said that BCCI would continue opposing the technology until DRS became a ‘foolproof’ technology.