IPL 2018 | BCCI to use DRS to reduce umpiring howler

Now, the IPL becomes the second T20 league in the world to have adopted the technology to reduce umpiring howlers and the first league on the list is Pakistan Super League. It’s a very appreciative step on the part of the BCCI as they have been in the silent mode in the adoption of technology and it was only two years back, when England visited India for a five-match Test series, the board agreed to use DRS in a home series for the first time.

However, after India’s recent success with the technology mainly because of MS Dhoni’s incisive brain behind the stumps, the board has finally decided to adopt the technology in order to bring more fairness to the umpiring system. The decision was taken after a board meeting in Visakhapatnam last December, where the top ten umpires from the Indian domestic circuit, were informed about the technology by ICC umpires' coach Denis Burns and former Australia pacer-turned umpire Paul Reiffel.

The decision has also given a breath of fresh air considering the fact that there were far too many questionable decisions by the on-field umpires in the tenth season, which led to many criticism.

Earlier, BCCI's stance on the DRS has been widely against it as the board kept on arguing that unless the system in place was 100 percent foolproof, they would not support it at all. The board's major mistrust lay in the ball tracking technology wherein the path of the ball could be misleading. However, in the later months with the HawkEye creating UltraEdge and increasing the frame rates per second, the board agreed to use the technology.