England captain Ben Stokes spoke in detail about a specific passage of play that appeared to have upset the visitors on Day 4.
England captain Ben Stokes has called for a reassessment of the Decision Review System (DRS) after a controversial lbw decision during the team’s loss in the third Test against India in Rajkot. The batsman in question, Zak Crawley, challenged Kumar Dharmasena’s lbw decision against Jasprit Bumrah by opting for a review. Despite the trajectory indicating that the ball would not hit the top of the leg stump, Crawley was left disappointed as the decision stood.
This wasn’t the first time Crawley found himself on the wrong end of a tight DRS call, having experienced a similar situation in the previous Test. Stokes, alongside head coach Brendon McCullum, sought clarification from match referee Jeff Crowe after the match, expressing discontent with the decision.
Stokes revealed that while there was an acknowledgment of an error in the produced image, Hawk-Eye confirmed that the underlying calculations supported the on-field decision. It sounds like Crawley has had a tough time with those tight DRS calls! It must be frustrating for him and the team to experience such moments of uncertainty. It’s good to hear that Stokes and coach McCullum sought clarification on the decision from match referee Jeff Crowe.
It’s always important to address any concerns or doubts about such crucial decisions during a match. Hopefully, these discussions will lead to improvements in how such situations are handled in the future.
“We just wanted some clarity around Zak’s DRS when the images came back,” Stokes told TalkSPORT.
“The ball is quite clearly missing the stump on the replay. So when it gets given umpire’s call, and the ball’s not actually hitting the stumps, we were a bit bemused. So, we just wanted some clarity from the Hawk-Eye guys.
“It came back saying the numbers, or whatever it is that is, it was saying that it was hitting the stumps but it was the projection that was wrong. I don’t know what that means. Something’s gone wrong, so, yeah. It’s not me blaming that on what’s happened here, like I didn’t last week. It’s just… what’s going on?”
England faced a colossal 434-run loss in the Test in Rajkot, and Stokes stated he didn’t want to pin DRS calls as the major reason for the side’s defeat. However, he stated that the umpire’s call should be scrapped altogether.
“We’ve been on the wrong end of three umpire’s calls this game and that is part of DRS. You’re either on the right side or the wrong side. Unfortunately, we’ve been on the wrong side. I’m not saying and never will say that’s the reason why we’ve lost this game, because 500 is a lot of runs.
“It is not something you pin down to result of the game. Sometimes, when you are on the wrong end of those decisions, it hurts, but that is part of the game. You want them to go your way, sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.
“You just want a level playing field. The umpires have an incredibly hard job as it is, especially in India when the ball is spinning. My personal opinion is if the ball is hitting the stumps, it is hitting the stumps. They should take away ‘umpire’s call’ if I’m being perfectly honest. I don’t want to get too much into it because it sounds like we are moaning and saying that is why we lost the Test match.”
England suffered their biggest defeat by runs since Ben Stokes became the Test captain, losing by 434 runs. The visitors collapsed within just two sessions on Day 4, managing only 122 runs in pursuit of India’s massive 557-run target. India’s batting order, spearheaded by rising stars Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, and Shubman Gill, wreaked havoc on the visitors.\
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