KARACHI, June 25: Former Pakistan Test cricketers Rashid Latif and Basit Ali have lashed out at the umpiring standard in the opening Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Galle.

“The way umpires Steve Davis [from Australia] and Ian Gould [from England] supervised the Galle Test is simply a mockery of Test cricket,” former Test captain Rashid said on Monday as Sri Lanka thrashed Pakistan by 209 runs to win the Test and took 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

“A couple of wrong decisions can be acceptable. But the way Gould and Davis made blunders it was really below-par performance by the men in the white coats.”

He called upon the International Cricket Council (ICC) to make Decision Review System (DRS) mandatory in Test matches as well as in other formats of the game.

“The ICC is an authority and they should implement the DRS system,” he emphasised.

Also, ex-Test batsman Basit was critical of what he termed substandard umpiring. “Umpiring in the Galle Test was pathetic and damaging for the game,” the former middle-order batsman stated.—APP

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