Legendary India batter Sunil Gavaskar took a cheeky dig at the naysayers of the contentious umpire’s call rule in cricket, days after England captain Ben Stokes called for it to be scrapped. Gavaskar, on air during the first day’s play in Ranchi, highlighted the usefulness of the umpire’s call after England opener Ben Duckett was adjudged not out despite the ball-tracking system showing the ball clipping the stumps after an LBW call.
Sunil Gavaskar said that Test matches would finish in two-and-half days if the umpire’s call is done away with, saying it’s not ideal to give out to all the referrals in which the tracking system shows the ball clipping the stumps.
In the 9th over of the Ranchi Test, umpire Kumar Dharmasena gave Ben Duckett not out after Ravindra Jadeja appealed for LBW. The replays suggested that the ball was hitting Duckett outside the line of the off-stump, but the ball-tracking system showed at least some part of it was hitting him in line while the ball went on to clip the bails. IND vs ENG, 4th Test Day 1: Live updates
However, the decision went in favour of the England opener as on-field umpire Dharmasena’s decision stayed.
“Have a look at this. This is the umpire’s call. All those who are saying the umpire’s call should be done away with, on replay (on this instance), the ball was hitting the stumps, which meant, Duckett ‘good bye’. In case, the umpire’s call is done away with and the ball is hitting the stumps, it will be given out. This is Test cricket, most matches will finish in 2-and-half-days,” Gavaskar told Sports 18 during commentary.
WHAT STOKES SAID ABOUT UMPIRE’S CALL
Stokes called to do away with the umpire’s call as he expressed his frustration with the LBW of Zak Crawley in the second innings of the 3rd Test in Rajkot. Jasprit Bumrah got the big wicket on Day 4 and the umpire’s call went in favour of the bowling team on that occasion. Notably, the visuals suggested the ball missing the stumps, but the on-field umpire’s call stayed, leaving Ben Stokes baffled.
Stokes, who was gutted after England were hammered by 434 runs, was critical of the umpire’s call rule, calling for consistency in terms of decision-making about the Decision Review System.
“Yeah, just about Zak’s DRS. He was just giving us some information around how it was judged to be given out when the balls did not hit the stumps on the DRS. The ball did not hit the stumps on replay. It was apparently that numbers said that it hit the stump, but the image was wrong. So I don’t really understand what’s going on there,” Stokes had said.
Notably, former India captain Virat Kohli also voiced out against umpire’s call during a Test series in South Africa in 2021-22 in which he was caught on stump mic, expressing his frustration with review calls in the Rainbow Nation.