DECISION REVIEW SYSTEM

The news which was hitting the headlines 1-2 weeks back was the India’s use of the DRS i.e., the Decision Review System, which India had accepted to use after a long time in a bilateral series. The reason why India did not use the DRS previously was the Hawk eye prediction which was prone to manual errors. Now that the efficiency of the system is increased using Ultra Edge and Ball tracking, which the ICC proposed in a meeting with the BCCI officials, they accepted.

So, how this DRS works?

First when the batting team or the bowling team have asked for a review making the ‘T’ symbol

Majority scenarios where DRS is used is for close-catches and LBW appeals.

The first thing the TV umpire checks is for the front-foot no-ball and when it is not a no-ball he goes on with the next procedures.

After that he checks whether the ball has taken an edge or not for the catch or the LBW mode of dismissal

1) A edge of the bat (or) edge of bat first and then pad or any other gear of the batsman for a catch review.
2) A edge of anything but bat which is followed/not followed by the edge of the bat for a LBW review.

The edges in the on-going series is checked using Ultra-Edge only whereas in other parts of the world Hotspot is also used in combination.

                                               

 
                                                   

Once there is an edge confirmed in liking to the appeal, the umpire goes on for the next process…

3)If the review is for a catch he checks whether the catch is completed correctly and the fielder has not grassed the ball in the process.
4) If the review is for LBW, then the following procedures take place
                4.1) The ball needs to be pitched in-line to the stumps (or) outside the off-stump… it should not pitch outside the leg-stump…
                4.2) The ball needs to have impact in-line if the batsman attempts a shot (or) outside off-stump area is included if the batsman is not offering a shot…
                4.3) The ball needs to hit the stumps after the impact (or) at least >50% of the ball must be clipping the stumps after impact…

Now, combining the conditions,

Batsman is OUT LBW and he reviews,
If No-ball he is not out and TV Umpire does not go with the further process
Not a no-ball:
Any one of the conditions 2, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 needs to be false to overturn the decision.

                               

Batsman is NOT-OUT and the fielding team reviews for LBW,
If No-ball he is not out and TV Umpire does not go with the further process
Not a no-ball:
All of the conditions 2, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 needs to be true to overturn the decision.

                            

Batsman is NOT-OUT and the fielding team reviews for a close catch,
If No-ball he is not out and TV Umpire does not go with the further process
Not a no-ball:
Condition 1 needs to be true &
The TV umpires checks for a fair-catch completion to overturn the decision.

Batsman is OUT Caught and he reviews,
If No-ball he is not out and TV Umpire does not go with the further process
Not a no-ball:
Condition 1 needs to be false (or)
The fielder should have grassed the ball at some point of time to overturn the decision

Now, there exists something called as the UMPIRE’S CALL in the DRS, which is nothing but

For an OUT decision given by umpire, his call is taken for the consideration
a) if >50% of the ball is clipping the stumps.
b) if >50% of the ball’s impact is within the line-of-stumps (in-line) and batsman offers a shot.

For an NOT-OUT decision given by umpire, his call is taken for the consideration
a) if >50% of the ball is missing the stumps.
b) if >50% of the ball’s impact is outside off-stump and batsman offers a shot.

                               

For the run-out and stumping reviews, the umpire needs to check whether the batsman is safe when the stumps and bails are disturbed and at least one of the bails is removed from the set.

S.T. Guha Karthikeyan