Sachin Tendulkar feels introduction of DRS in India is a positive step

Terming the introduction of DRS in a a bilateral series in India a “positive step”, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar today said the BCCI can adopt it on permanent basis if they are convinced with the modified review system and called for the technology to be standardised across the world.

The Indian Cricket Board last month ended its long-standing opposition to the Decision Review System, and agreed to its usage on a trial basis during the ongoing home Test series against England.

Asked whether the BCCI should adopt it on a permanent basis, Tendulkar told PTI, “If BCCI have studied well and they are convinced with this (modifications in DRS), then why not, I think it’s a positive step.”

He added, “The whole thing was about having consistency everywhere in the world... because I noticed that one change - snekometer in one part of the world and the other part of the world was Hotspot.

“There was no uniformity. When you play Test cricket, there are certain things (which) need to be standardised everywhere in the world and when DRS is actually now as good as part of, norm of cricket, literary into that, then it should be standardised everywhere in the world.” “So whichever match you are playing, one should not be asking okay what will be happening, is snekometer available or Hotspot available (or not), it should be standardised.” The 43-year-old Tendulkar said that DRS was all about getting the decisions right.

“See after (Cheteshwar) Pujara’s decision (in the Rajkot Test), few questions were raised and people spoke about whether the decision should (have been given)... even if batsman doesn’t ask and umpire has given out and in the reply it showed that you know it had pitched down the leg, I feel it won’t be bad idea for the third umpire to intervene there, because eventually DRS is all about getting decisions right.

“And consistently right (as far as possible). So you got to find ways to get decisions right and they should be working as a team - all three umpires, on-field umpires and the third umpire. The whole system was introduced for consistency in taking decisions and if we can get that, then we would have achieved our goal.”

Having opposed the system for long, the Board’s stance softened after Test captain Virat Kohli and coach Anil Kumble expressed their openness to experiment with the technology.