Kumble instrumental in convincing BCCI to use DRS, reveals ICC
ICC General Manager of cricket affairs Geoff Allardice has revealed that Anil Kumble played a major role in convincing the BCCI to use the DRS for their upcoming England series. Allardice also stressed upon the improvements that the DRS has undergone since the BCCI had opposed it.
"I know he's (Kumble) been part of the pre-committee for I think four years now, and one of the things that he was keen to do when he came on as chairman was to make sure that the technologies that were used as part of DRS were assessed independently and he's driven a lot of that project and it's taken awhile to get to the stage where we've got results of testing, etc.
"But he (Kumble) has been very supportive of the project. He was also in the pre-committee meeting in May last year when the results when the majority of the tests were presented. He was aware of the pre committee's position, which was that they wanted a more consistent use of technology across international matches.
"The fact that he was subsequently appointed as Indian coach; he obviously has that background going into his coaching position. He's been very instrumental in the process that we've taken with the assessment of technology and the approval process and new technologies and things like that; he's taken a methodical approach," Allardice stated during an interview, reported PTI.
The BCCI, along with MS Dhoni, had openly opposed the use of DRS as they did not find the ball-tracking system to be reliable. However, Allardice has assured that the DRS has improved a lot since then.
"I think it was an opportunity to talk to the BCCI about what some of those developments have been, and about how some of those developments have probably appeased some of the concerns they have had around performance of the technologies, particularly in the area of ball tracking.
"The two of note which you will have seen are the increased frame rate of the cameras, obviously puts more information into each calculation of a predicted path and produces a more accurate result, and the location of the point of impact now has the ultra edge or the sound based system helping them getting the right frame of impact.
"They are two improvements in the last couple of years that have certainly improved the performance of ball tracking since the BCCI originally took its position a few years ago," he said.
Allardice has also stressed on the importance of being consistent in the use of technologies across all the series. He said, "I think when I say "more consistent use of technology," I think having the same type of technology at each match; not the same provider at each match. Because one of the things about technology is that there's always development going into it, and the more people you've got involved, the more ideas that get advanced."
However, he accepted that implementing the DRS has been a logistical challenge for the ICC.
"It certainly has a lot to add to a DRS system, but there are some logistical challenges around making it available for every match at the moment. But that's something we want to think through a little bit further and have further discussions with the provider. Ball tracking is standard in DRS at the moment and we wouldn't see that changing," he said.