Vengsarkar cautions ICC on Umpire Decision Review System

Former Test captain and Chief Selector Dilip Vengsarkar cautioned the International Cricket Council not to proceed with plans to introduce the Umpire Decision Review System without putting in place a fool-proof technology.

Former Test captain and Chief Selector Dilip Vengsarkar on Thursday cautioned the International Cricket Council not to proceed with plans to introduce the Umpire Decision Review System without putting in place a fool-proof technology.

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"It is not advisable to introduce the Umpire Decision Review System unless there is a fool-proof technology to back it up as we have seen in the India-Sri Lanka series (last year) when this was used. How is it possible for a camera placed above and far away to point out whether the ball which has hit the batsman's pads eight feet in front of the stumps would go and hit them," Vengsarkar wondered.

Whatever be the technology that is going to be used, it should be fool-proof. Also the ICC would do well to talk to current players who have experienced the system and get their feedback on it, he felt.

In the UDRS, players have the option to challenge the umpires decisions for a specific number of times per innings.

The ICC's Cricket Committee, headed by former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, has recently concluded this was the most appropriate way of handling the review system.

Past experience of the Johnnie Walker Super Series in Australia in 2005, when the umpires had the opportunity to call for reviews, showed that the path was not effective as it led to umpires doubting their own abilities and slowed the game down, it decided at its sitting.