DRS and the Role of Technology in Cricket

The story so far...

The DecisionReview System (DRS) has captured the attention of everyone who has anything to do with cricket. From the administrators and players, to fans around the world, people have been discussing and debating the utility of DRS and accuracy of the technologies available.

The issue created headlines quite often through the summer. On a few occasions during India’s tour of England, Hot-Spot went cold. Before this series, Hot-Spot was considered 100% foolproof. It also had BCCI’s stamp of approval. However, it regularly failed to detect fine edges, and was later dumped for India’s home series.

Then we had the Phil Hughes’ LBW in Sri Lanka. Anyone who saw the incident could tell that the ball would have missed off stump. However, Hawk-Eye made a ‘tracking mistake’ and showed the ball to be hitting leg stump. Based on this erroneous Hawk-eye tracking, the batsman was adjudged Out. The matter was then referred to the ICC by the officiating umpires.

The Disagreement

The biggest point of contention here is the use of Hawk-eye, which not only tracks the ball’s actual trajectory until it hits the bat or pad, but also attempts to extrapolate the ball’s path after impact. The BCCI has maintained strong reservation about the accuracy of this Hawk-eye projection.

To complicate matters, the creators of Hawk-eye have confessed that the projection may be inaccurate beyond a distance of 2.5m. In other words, if the ball hits the batsman’s pad at a distance of over 2.5m from the stumps, Hawk-eye cannot accurately predict whether the ball was actually headed for the stumps.

Technology vs Umpires

Technology has been increasingly (and successfully) adopted in cricket for decision making and for an enhanced viewing experience. However, the ICC needs to define and articulate the precise role of technology in cricket. There needs to be a clear distinction between the role of the umpire and the role of technology. Should we use technology to assist the umpires, or should technology be allowed to take over?

While we all want umpiring decisions to be 100% accurate, if we allow technology to take over completely, then the on-field umpires will soon become redundant. Steve Waugh in his autobiography wrote that leg spinner Stuart MacGill once said to an umpire, “Your job is to hold my sweater and count to six.”

Does cricket want its umpires to be reduced to such menial existence? Thankfully, cricket lovers all across the world consider the umpires to be an integral part of the game.

Drawing the line

So, where do we draw the line between the role of technology and the role of the umpire? This, in my view can be laid down by adopting a simple philosophy. “Technology should provide factual evidence and the umpire will make the judgement.”

This statement has the potential to clear all confusion around the DRS. The key phrase here is “FACTUAL EVIDENCE” i.e. evidence of an event that has definitely happened.

If we look closely at all the moments when the (technology-aided) 3^rd umpire is called for (stumpings, run-outs, doubtful catches, etc), we notice that, in all these cases, the cameras only show factual evidence. In the case of Hot-Spot, the evidence of an edge is factual, i.e. appearance of the hot spot suggests contact between the bat and ball. Based on this factual evidence, the 3^rd umpire makes an Out/ Not-out judgement. The same philosophy should be applied to the use of Hawk-eye by the 3^rd umpire.

The Way Forward

Let’s look closely at the proposed use of Hawk-eye for an LBW decision that has been referred to the 3^rd umpire. From the moment the ball leaves the bowler’s hand till it hits the batsman’s pad, hawk-eye gives factual evidence of the ball’s trajectory, and its point of contact with the pitch and with the batsman (height and line of impact). This is where Hawk-eye must STOP.

Beyond this point of impact, the hawk-eye gets into prediction mode and extrapolates the path that the ball would have taken had the impact not occurred. This extrapolation goes beyond the limits of “factual evidence” and technology transgresses into the jurisdiction of the umpire. Based on factual evidence of the actual trajectory of the ball, point of impact, distance from the stumps, etc., it should now be the 3^rd umpire’s role to adjudicate whether the ball would have hit the stumps, and whether the batsman should be adjudged LBW. 

An obvious counter-argument here would be: “How do we guarantee 100% accuracy from the umpires in such situations?” While 100% accuracy can never be guaranteed, the umpires can always be trained to make LBW decisions based on “factual evidence” provided by technology. Perhaps, umpires can make use Hawk-eye simulations to enhance their judgement of a ball’s trajectory. That is the ideal scenario – where technology will help umpires make better decisions. And both will live happily ever after.

IPL now goes international

Two great stories emerged last weekend. One was India’s comprehensive victory in the Hamilton test, the first test win in New Zealand for 33 years. The second was of the IPL deciding to move out of India. But for all the history and joy associated with the test victory, the IPL story has created a much bigger stir in the cricketing world and the media.

The desperate situation that IPL finds itself in today makes me very very happy. Let me explain why…

The motive behind the IPL
IPL is not an event of national pride. It is not even a cricketing event. In fact, IPL is a business model that has promised big profits for all stakeholders - the BCCI, franchisees, sponsors, broadcasters, and the cricketers themselves. All stakeholders except the most important of them all – CRICKET.

If the development of cricket was among the priorities of BCCI, we would have seen much more interest and coverage for the domestic competitions – the Ranji, Irani, Duleep and Deodhar trophies. There could have been a domestic T20 competition on the lines of similar events in England, Australia, South Africa, etc. We could have some teams sign up international stars to add the glam quotient.

But all of that would not have satisfied the humungous appetites of the goons that run Indian cricket. They wanted to make it big, with corporate houses buying teams, cricketers being auctioned off like prostitutes or slaves in the olden days. So, the only motive behind this entertainment circus is money.

The Political connection
The biggest problem with world cricket today is its administration. It is not run by people who understand the game. Neither is it run by professionals with prior experience of sports management. The problem is especially damaging in India, where the people in charge are either corrupt politicians, or some rich influencers who can throw some money around to make lots more.

Any aspirant of a top BCCI position must have significant political affiliations. That was exactly the formula used by Lalit Modi. Unfortunately, BJP lost the Rajasthan state elections, and after that, Modi lost his clout in the Rajasthan Cricket Association. That made him weak in his home turf, and with the Congress at the helm in Parliament, he obviously cannot pull as many strings. Dirty, Dirty politics!

The Franchisee dilemma
Cricket is India’s #1 passion. The country stops when the national cricket team is on the field. So, it is not at all difficult to rope in the corporates who can use such a platform to reach out to Indian masses. That’s exactly what attracted big names like Mukesh Ambani and Vijay Mallya, and other (stupid) corporate houses to put in hundreds of millions of dollars into this ambitious project.

The model first ensured that BCCI would make profits. Most of the franchisees would take at least 3-4 years (of successful IPL) to break-even.

With so much at stake, the franchisees have no option but to support BCCI in whatever steps they take to ensure that IPL2 happens. It was not mere coincidence that we heard all team owners express full support to BCCI. And they do not have an exit route; nobody will invest (bet) in this circus given the economic downturn. Franchisees have to rake in whatever sponsorship they manage to get, and pray that somehow their losses this year are minimized.

Where now?
At this moment, the BCCI is considering 2 options to host the IPL – England and South Africa. These are the only 2 countries where cricket can be played in April and May, and the telecast can coincide with prime time in India. The boards are more than willing to accommodate the IPL on its grounds. And why not? Why should anyone mind the extra buck?

Common sense and knowledge of adverse weather conditions in England would suggest that South Africa should be the obvious choice. But there seems to be some powerful lobbying for the games to be held in England. The economics would tilt the decision in favour of England. Given the huge expat population, we can expect some good crowds for the matches. Some reports suggest that the Indian team management (Dhoni and co.) want the matches in England, so as to get some valuable practice before the T20 World Cup there.

I would like this to happen, and to see how many matches get washed (or even snowed) out. I wonder how many sponsors would be willing to stick around thru the chilly journey to England!

What lies ahead…
The next year (if IPL lasts that long) will be even more interesting. IPL plans to host matches in March – April to avoid a clash with the T20 World Cup in West Indies. It will then clash with the exam season. This will mean that the student/ youth segment (and their families) who make up the largest segment of audience (either in-ground or on TV) will give the matches a miss.

Lower audiences will mean lesser ticket revenues. Lower viewership will mean lesser sponsorship revenues. All this will translate into losses for the franchisees (the biggest losers in the whole circus). Ultimately the IPL will lose the pillars it stand on and hopefully, should fold up – the sooner the better.

Summarizing..
The IPL wants to change the face of international cricket. The goons promoting it want to take all romance out of our #1 passion and make cricket a business. They were cheeky enough to lay the blame of the IPL2 fiasco on the non-cooperation from the government and political reasons for the fiasco. So much for climbing the BCCI ladder using political affiliations themselves!

Indian Cricket is the ‘Goose that lays golden eggs’. BCCI, instead of nurturing the goose, wants to cut it open and have all the eggs at once. They want to fill their coffers and usurp all the power they can using this money. Now, it’s their karma hitting back. Hopefully, this should see a major change in cricket administration, and better days and years ahead!

Test Cricket at Mohali

There was one dark spot in the overwhelming victory at Mohali though. This match, between the two best test teams, featuring a plethora of great talent, attracted only sparse crowds. The only groups of audiences worth mentioning were schoolchildren who were given free entry to watch the game and Australian tourists. Much has been written about this fiasco, so here are my few words.

Test matches have never attracted big crowds at Mohali. It will be impossible to find records of ticket sales (ditto for all Indian grounds). But I have never seen the Mohali stands more than 25% full for any test match.

Let’s not get into analysis-paralysis here. It’s a simple case of social psychology (for want of a more appropriate term). People from that part of the country simply do not understand or appreciate test cricket – a fact reflected in the dearth of test cricketers produced from that region. Unfortunately such bad eggs create a negative image of the passion that this country has for cricket, and especially for the real cricket.

Now it is up to our ‘able’ administrators to decide. Do they want to continue forcing test cricket down the throats of Chandigarh-ites? Not to mention the IS Bindra connection here. Or will they bring more test cricket to Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, where people understand, appreciate, love and are hungry for more top quality test match cricket?

We all know what BCCI’s priorities are. Unfortunately we have to see our #1 passion hijacked for the vested interests of these greedy rogues.