Kohli hints relook at Decision Review System
KOLKATA: Test captain Virat Kohli indicated India might be open to using the Decision Review System (DRS) in future. “We will certainly look to probably introduce it in future,” he said on the eve of the second Test against New Zealand here.
India have been the biggest opponents of DRS since MS Dhoni got charge of the team, but Kohli seemed to offer a slightly different opinion.
“Those are things I can’t say yes or no sitting here,” said Kohli, asked about his opinion on DRS. “But these are things we have discussed. These are things we have had meetings on. Because there were some areas we felt can be debated, especially the ball-tracking and Hawkeye. All in all, I personally feel these can be discussed and debated on,” he said.
What could have brought this change of thought is the change to DRS brought about by the ICC a week ago. Now, a batsman is more likely to be given leg-before because the zone in which more than half the ball must hit the batsman’s pad has increased.
The zone in which the ball needs to hit the stumps has also increased — from the centre of the off and leg stumps to the outside of both stumps. This means that more turned down leg-before appeals can be overturned now because the impact area has increased considerably.
Not going for DRS in bilateral arrangements has cost India some important wickets in the past but Kohli is not bitter about it.
“We wouldn’t take decisions too hard because we in the first place decided not to use DRS. For us to then say that the umpires made an error and it is going against us is not logical. There is no room for excuses. Once DRS is in place, once DRS is up and running for us as well, then you can sit and think what are the grey areas. As I said, these things have been spoken about.”