Pakistan-Australia ODIs to have Decision Review System

By Ubaid Awan

KARACHI (TheSportsNext) July 23, 2012: Despite of a huge opposition to Decision Review System by Board for Cricket Control in India (BCCI), the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) showed its trust in the DRS as it announced Sunday that the upcoming One Day International series between Pakistan and Australia will have the latest technology helping the on-field umpires.

A PCB official told local media the other day that the Pakistan Cricket Board had finalized a sponsorship deal for the expensive Decision Review System for the next month’s series against Australia.

Pakistan are taking on Australia in three-match One Day International and two-match Twenty20 International series in United Arab Emirates, which has emerged as Pakistan’s home after security concerns forced international teams to refuse to visit the terror-hit country.

The PCB official said, “We’re very much in favour of having the DRS in ODI and Test matches and we see the Australia series as a good platform to promote the technology”.

The Decision Review System has minimized umpiring errors since its inception but the BCCI has been opposing the system citing a couple of errors in technology which don’t give conclusive decision but most of the cricket boards are still going for it despite of its expensive cost.

As per the International Cricket Council’s rules, it’s up to the host country to decide whether it wants the DRS and if it doesn’t want they can still keep on playing cricket in the traditional way.

During the recently-concluded series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the absence of DRS was felt badly as Pakistan were made to rue seven controversial decisions in the Galle Test which Pakistan lost and due to this defeat it lost the series 1-0.

Pakistan’s skipper for Twenty20s, Mohammad Hafeez said, “One thing I want to say is that it is time for the highest authorities to make a decision about the DRS. It should be made compulsory for every game.”