IND v ENG 2021: The grey areas of umpire’s call should be addressed, opines Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli was speaking at the pre-match presser before the 1st India-England ODI in Pune.

The umpire’s call of the DRS caused quite a few problems for both India and England in the previous Test series and the T20I series as well. Many decisions landed in controversy due to the batsmen being saved or being dismissed due to the umpire’s call and Indian captain Virat Kohli opined about the same.

Kohli, while speaking at the pre-match press conference before the 1^st ODI against England, mentioned that the 'Umpire's Call' is creating a lot of confusion at the moment and the lawmakers need to look at it so that it does not leave a grey area when a big tournament is being played.

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"Look, I have played in the time where there was no DRS. The umpire made the decision whether the batsman liked it or not, it stayed like that. Vice-versa, if the umpire gave it not out and it was out, it stayed like that. Whether it was marginal or not, according to me, the umpire's call right now is creating a lot of confusion.

When you get bowled as a batsman, you do not expect the ball to hit more than 50 percent into the stumps to consider yourself getting bowled. If the ball is shown clipping the stumps, basic cricket common sense, I do not think there should be any debates on that, if the ball is hitting the stumps, it should be out. Whether you like it or not, you should lose the review," said Kohli during a virtual press conference on Monday.

"If it hits the stumps or missing the stumps, it should not matter how much the ball is clipping because it is creating a lot of confusion. One more factor that needs to be considered is how the fielding team responds to a dismissal that is claimed.

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This is somewhere defining the soft signals as well. You have to question what the spirit of the game is and what those guidelines are because if things like that happen with the Indian cricket team overseas then you are talking about a completely different conversation about the spirit of the game.

So look, it is a serious thing that needs to be considered because there is a lot at stake in bigger tournaments. You do not want any grey area hampering the game and it leaves with you no clarity," he added.

During the same conference, Virat Kohli had confirmed that Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan will open the innings for India in the ODI series against England.

(ANI inputs)