Many cricket legends, including the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne, have opined quite a few times that the ICC should do away with the ‘Umpire's Call’ when a team opts for the Decision Review System (DRS)
However, the parent body has reportedly backed the controversial rule, citing that the ball-tracking technology was not going to be 100 per cent correct.
According to a report in ESPNcricinfo, ICC’s Cricket Committee has suggested that the 'Umpire's call' rule in the DRS process should stay and it will be discussed at the governing body's chief executive committee meeting, scheduled for a virtual meet in the coming week.
The report also says that the ICC Cricket Committee, led by ex-India skipper Anil Kumble and a number of former international captains – Andrew Strauss, Rahul Dravid, Mahela Jayawardene, Shaun Pollock – as well as match referee Ranjan Madugalle, umpire Richard Illingworth and Mickey Arthur, among its members, took suggestions from other match officials, broadcasters, and Hawk-Eye, the ball-tracking technology supplier.
Having taken into account everyone’s viewpoint, the committee decided to continue with the 'Umpire's call' rule.
Earlier this month, umpire Nitin Menon had explained why cricket needs to stuck with this contentious rule.
"See, first of all, Umpire's Call is regarding decisions which are very close, the decisions which are 50-50, which can go either way, goes with the call of the on-field umpire. It is not a completely perfect decision that has been overturned, so it is a 50-50 decision which can go either way, to the batting side or the fielding side. When we know that technology is not itself 100 per cent correct, so that is when you need the Umpire's Call," Menon had told ANI.
"When we know technology is not 100 per cent correct, so whatever the on-field decision is given, since it is a very marginal call, so we will stick with the decision the on-field umpire has given. This concept needs to be understood by the general public because they are not aware of why Umpire's Call concept is there in DRS. It is basically because it was a marginal call and 100 per cent technology cannot say whether it was hitting the stumps or not," he had added.
(With ANI inputs)
