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NEW DELHI: The Indian cricket board has ruled out using the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) and also rejected an offer to travel to Australia and watch its Ashes application.
The clamour to use the technology aimed at reducing umpiring errors has been growing but India have opposed UDRS as they are adamant the ball-tracking tool is not accurate enough.
UDRS was not used in India's recent series against Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary N Srinivasan said there was no real chance of the world's richest cricket body changing its stance.
“We don't accept this technology. We are not going to use it in any bilateral series,” Srinivasan told Reuters over the phone.
Cricket South Africa could not convince BCCI to use UDRS in the ongoing series and an annoyed Proteas captain Graeme Smith said the International Cricket Council (ICC) should make it mandatory.
“The ICC needs to take responsibility and lead the way when it comes to the review system,” Smith said after losing the Durban test against India where a couple of dubious decisions hurt his team.
“They can't just let the boards decide and negotiate it.
Using the UDRS once every seven series is not going to help anybody.”
Australia's stand-in captain Michael Clarke shared Smith's view on uniformity.
“I'd like it to be 100 percent right but not many things in the world are,” Clarke said in Sydney.
“I think it should be 100 percent used or not used at all.”
Clarke's words followed the controversial reprieve England batsman Ian Bell got in the fifth Ashes test thanks to UDRS.
Batting on 67, Bell was adjudged caught behind but the decision was overturned after the batsman sought a review.
However, the snickometer subsequently suggested an edge and Bell went on to score a century that further consolidated England's position in the match.
The BCCI is so convinced of the technology's limitations that they turned down an offer to travel to Australia where UDRS made its Ashes debut.
“Yes, they were supposed to take us to see its use in the Ashes series but I did not go. We have made our presentation to the ICC, saying we are just not convinced about the technology,” Srinivasan said.
Asked if cost was the discouraging factor, he said, “That's another issue but we have got serious doubts about its accuracy.”
However, the UDRS will be used in this year's World Cup, jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh from Feb 19.
“Well, World Cup is an ICC event and if ICC decided to use it, they obviously can,” said Srinivasan, also the BCCI president-elect.
