JOIN USJoe Root, who was wrongly adjudged leg-before wicket by umpire C Shamshuddin in the second T20I that played a key factor in England’s defeat, on Tuesday echoed his skipper Eoin Morgan’s thoughts that DRS should be considered for T20Is as well.
“There were decisions throughout the game that went against us,” Root said at the pre-match press conference here at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. “It is time now for some sort of DRS in T20 cricket. I know you want to keep the speed of the game but with it being such small margins and so important for us to get things right. If you miss your yorker you go out of the park. So it’s just as important to get the right decisions from the umpires as well. It would be quite nice to see maybe even one review for either side. But we are where we are with it at the moment.
“When the margins are so small and the smallest thing can turn a game of T20 cricket I do feel every opportunity to get the right decision should be taken. It’s as simple as that. It’s not a question of it not being taken as seriously as the other formats. I think all three are taken extremely seriously. You see that with the attention the IPL gets, all the other domestic tournaments around the world and of course the international matches get as well.”
Root, however, felt singling out the umpire is incorrect and the team too needs to take the blame for failing to finish a close encounter. “I have no problem with him (Shamshuddin) umpiring any of our future games. As a player you’re going to make mistakes and as an umpire you’re going to do exactly the same. I don’t think it would be right to single him out as a person at fault for that game. There were things in the game that we could have done better. We could have chased tighter and closer so we didn’t have so much to do at the back end. So it would be wrong to single him out and have a personal go at him.”
Root, one of the premier batsmen in the world, said a series win in the T20Is would heal the wounds of what has been a tough tour. “It’s been a very tough tour and India have played very well but we have played some good cricket along the way and it would be nice to finish the tour on what we feel would be a deserved win.”
DH News Service