Sachin Tendulkar reveals why Team India initially opposed the use of DRS

The development of the game and the advancement of technology has always walked hand-in-hand since time immemorial. The lightness of a willow, improvement of the protective gears or even the fabric of shoes; all these changes had a tangible impact on the game.

Decision Review System (DRS) is another such innovation which aims to reduce the human errors from the on-field umpires. It was deployed for the first time in 2008 during India’s tour of Sri Lanka. Virender Sehwag’s lbw in that series became the first decision to be overturned by the use of DRS.

Although India, under Anil Kumble’s leadership, became the first team to use DRS, MS Dhoni and Co. continuously objected its use in the future. Dhoni, the then skipper, always felt that the technology is far from flawless and can’t be relied upon.

It is quite ironic that, later on, Dhoni himself became one of the admirers of the review system.

Batting legend Sachin Tendulkar has now revealed the reason behind Team India’ scepticism to the use of DRS.

“When we went to Sri Lanka in 2008, it used to be called UDRS (Umpire Decision Review System). Anil was our captain at that time; he had played for India for 17-18 years by then. Rahul was there, Sourav was there, Laxman was there, I was there… Zaheer, Harbhajan… you name all these guys who were around for a good 10-15 years or even more,” Tendulkar told Aakash Chopra on the latter’s YouTube channel.

“In that series, we had referred around 15 decisions (20 referrals in total) to the third Umpire, and out of those, we were awarded just one decision. So, either we didn’t know how to refer – not able to judge LBWs and these things – or there was something wrong with that system,” he added.

Sachin doesn’t believe in “Umpire’s calls”

‘Master Blaster’ further opined that he still couldn’t digest the theory of umpire’s call since there’s no point in exploring what percentage of the ball is hitting the stumps.

“I just feel that when the ball pitches, its centre point, the ball has to pitch inside the line. But when the ball hits the stumps, it need not be to centre point. It could be centre point, it could be left side, ride side or even the bottom of the ball, whatever.”

“When it hits the stumps, it hits from four different points. So whether it is hitting, 49 percent or 51 percent, it should be out,” concluded Sachin.

Meanwhile, Sachin has signed a lucrative deal with a fantasy app namely Paytm First Games as a brand ambassador of the company. This is the first instance when the 47-year-old will be seen in an advertisement for a fantasy gaming platform.

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