DRS in India: A review of day one

Tanay Tiwari 17:51 09/11/2016
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  • So, finally the most awaited series of the season began with India taking on England in Rajkot. On a decent looking wicket, England won the toss and chose to bat first.

    England captain Alastair Cook and debutant Haseeb Hameed opened for England, with Cook appearing to struggle against the moving ball early on in the morning. There were a couple of dropped catches, which seemed baffling for this is a pretty decent Indian fielding unit.

    Another highlight of the morning was the introduction of DRS for this series. We didn’t have to wait much for the first deliberation on DRS. Cook missed a turner from Ravindra Jadeja which beat his inside-edge and hit his pads. A loud appeal followed, and Chris Gaffaney gave it out.

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    As a departure from the previous series in India, the batsman could, in fact, avail the benefits of the Decision Review System (DRS). Cook went down the pitch, had a small chat with the debutant who, either because of a lack of concentration or just because of nerves, asked his captain not to review the decision.

    The ball-tracker and Eagle Eye, though, would go on to show that the ball spun enough to miss the English skipper’s leg stump. The English were off to a rocky start with DRS in India, a technology which they have been using more than any other team.

    Although Hameed was doing very well with regards to his batting, the day was only going to get tougher for the young debutant who had his family – who hail from Gujarat – in attendance watching him play in English colours.

    He seemed to be in great touch when he hit Ravichandran Ashwin and Jadeja for a few boundaries, but in the 27th over, Ashwin made him play at two deliveries which he missed by a close margin.

    Then, on the third ball of the over the ball beat his outside edge and crashed into his back leg. Kumar Dharamsena – who had a terrible run in Bangladesh a few weeks back – gave Hameed out. The debutant didn’t even think twice before asking for a review.

    For all his talent and skill, DRS is surely not a subject that the 19-year-old seems to have enjoyed. The ball-tracker showed that the ball would go on to comfortably hit the off-stump. This also made Hameed the first player to use DRS on Indian soil in Test matches.

    India were to have their go at DRS too, in the 63rd over. Umesh Yadav bowled an excellent delivery which beat Joe Root’s bat and hit his pads. A loud appeal followed, but umpire Dharamsena thought the ball was doing a bit too much.

    The Indians doubted that and skipper Virat Kohli then took the first review by an Indian Test captain in India. The review wasn’t successful as the ball was shown to be marginally hitting the stumps and it remained the Umpire’s call.

    Root went on to score an excellent century before finally getting out to a strange catch, reminiscent of Herschelle Gibbs in the 1999 World Cup, from Yadav off his own bowling.

    More than any stakeholder, all the corporations involved in the research and development of the DRS technology are watching this game and this series very closely. They know the future of the DRS technology depends on how the BCCI like it.

    But on a day of massive upheavals across the globe, there wasn’t much DRS controversy to speak of.

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