Sangakkara advocates UDRS in Test cricket

Sri Lanka had good reason to believe they had been short-changed by umpiring decisions throughout the series, and particularly in the final Test which ended in defeat on Sunday by an innings and 24 runs. Tillakaratne Dilshan was wrongly given out in both innings and Rahul Dravid was adjudged not out when he nicked Rangana Herath to the wicket-keeper, errors that would have been avoided if the UDRS had been in place.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) had made it mandatory for the UDRS to be employed in all Test series starting after October 1 this year, but the with governing body and the host broadcasters failing to come to an agreement on who would bear the cost for the procurement of hot-spot technology, among other things, it wasn’t in vogue during this Test series.

“This series is probably the best advertisement for having the review system, what with decisions costing us over 500 runs and a lot of wickets,” Sangakkara observed. “It always puts a lot of pressure on the inside. You’ve got to accept the fact that we were outbowled and outplayed, but not to have the review system when every other side in the world is using the review system and when the ICC said all sides will be playing with the review system becomes an extra handicap. It cost us quite a huge amount of runs in this Test and the last Test.”

Interestingly, when the two sides last met in a Test series in Sri Lanka last year, the hosts benefited from the UDRS, being used on a trial basis, while India came away doubting technology. Mahendra Singh Dhoni had opted out of that series, citing the need for rest.

“It is very difficult for me to say anything about the UDRS because I have not played in a single series with the review system,” Dhoni said. “I don’t think it is hundred percent foolproof. You don’t want to try something that is not foolproof but at the same time, it can’t be foolproof if you don’t try it out. It has its own advantages and disadvantages. We can always try to make it as foolproof as possible, where maybe 90 percent of the times it can give correct decisions.”