Veterans’ voice backing technology to rectify human error in sports has become stronger now. From goal line technology in football to fault calls in tennis, technology has helped in pointing out what naked eye misses. And this is not just about the match-defining missed no ball call in the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) vs Mumbai Indians (MI) clash, standards of umpiring in international cricket has been a concern of late.
In 2018, umpires failed to detect as many as 12 no-balls during the day’s play of Sri Lanka vs England Test match. In the same match, Ben Stokes was given out twice and then called back because third umpires caught Lakshan Sandakan overstepping the line.
The Lasith Malinga no-ball (the last ball of RCB’s innings) ignored by umpire S Ravi has stirred up a storm after a visibly irritated Virat Kohli slammed him in the post-match interview. The sorry state of umpiring immediately took centrestage as veterans, commentators suggested the use of technology and intervention of third umpire in cases like these.
In a shocking revelation, an unnamed senior Star Official shared his observation with India TV,
“Having gone through the slow-motion replay of the match feed, I can tell you for certain that Ravi wasn’t even looking at the front foot of the bowler. He was already looking at the batsman,”
If reports are to be believed, umpire Ravi did not execute the basics of his trade. An umpire is supposed to look at the front foot of the bowler first before looking at the batsman. Blunders like these are clearly not acceptable as suggested by cricketers on Twitter,
I’ve been saying this for years . All deliveries should be adjudged by the third umpire . Each and every delivery .
— Rohan Gavaskar (@rohangava9) March 28, 2019
In an era of so much technology and with so much at stake NO BALLS should never ever be missed …. #JustSaying #IPL2019
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) March 28, 2019
Technology should be used much more often in cricket … so many front foot no-balls missed all the time in all formats and only checked on dismissal. Should be as simple as 3rd umpire telling the umpire through ear piece that a no ball has been bowled.
— Faf Du Plessis (@faf1307) March 28, 2019
In the world of technology that we live in, a NO BALL like that should NOT happen!
End Of Story!
— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) March 28, 2019
A tweet from 2013. If an experienced bowler like Malinga could overstep on the last ball of the match, I’m wondering how many are going unnoticed. Perhaps, even in the 20th over itself yesterday. pic.twitter.com/BTpSI3p8SR
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) March 29, 2019
I believe with the technology that’s being used in cricket for different things what happened in the #MIvsRCB match highlighted that more should be done.
A quick call from the third umpire on the #noball would have been the right way to go and must be implemented going forward. pic.twitter.com/58lGfHJKJu
— Brian Lara (@BrianLara) March 29, 2019
Maybe cricket can borrow the technology from Tennis where the beeper goes off automatically as soon as there is a service fault. Similarly, if a bowler oversteps, then umpire can depend on the technology to make the decision as replaying every delivery will take time and will lead to lengthier proceedings.
ALSO READ: Why Virat Kohli Slamming An Umpire For Overlooking A No Ball Is Justified
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