Have you come across this term called ‘DRS’ in cricket and wondered what it is all about? Or do you know what it is but often get bamboozled by some of its usages or whatever the case may be? Well, you don’t have to worry about it anymore as in this article we will completely decode this cryptic term in cricket called DRS.
What is DRS?
How many times have you seen the umpire give the wrong decision regarding leg before wicket (lbw) and/or caught behind wicket? At the end of the day irrespective of how experienced the umpire is or how accurate he is, he is a human being who can make an error of judgment. This error can end up costing a team heavily and can very well dictate who wins or loses the match.
To solve this problem, the cricket governing board came up with the DRS system in 2008. DRS is the acronym for ‘Decision Review System’ which is a technology-based system that allows a player to review the on-field umpire’s decision if he or she thinks that the on-field umpire has given the wrong decision. So the DRS basically helps or assists the on-field umpires to make the correct or accurate decision with the help of technology. Simple isn’t it?
When is DRS Used?
DRS is mainly used on 2 occasions- lbw and caught behind the wicket by the wicketkeeper. Now in both, cases be it lbw or caught behind, whenever the fielding team appeals for the wicket, the umpire will give any one of the two decisions out or not out.
Suppose the bowling team appeals for the wicket be it lbw or caught behind And the umpire gives it not out, then the bowling team can review the decision of the umpire if they think that the umpire has given a wrong decision. Similarly, if the umpire gives out and the batsman believes that he is not out then he can ask for reviewing the decision of the umpire.
Now, the team must have reviews left in order to review the decision of an umpire. Generally, in limited-overs cricket, teams get 2 reviews for each inning and in Test cricket, teams get 3 reviews for each inning. Suppose a team has 2 reviews left and has reviewed the decision of an umpire and it is found that the decision of the umpire is absolutely correct then the team loses its review and will have only one review left but if it is seen that the umpire has given the wrong decision then the team retains its review and still have 2 reviews left. also in the case of an ‘Umpire’s Call’, the team keeps or retains its review. We will discuss everything about the umpire’s call later in this article.
It is important to note that, to take review, when it comes to the fielding side, the captain of the fielding side has to signal to the umpire for a review and When it comes to the batting side, the batsman given out has to signal for the review and instantaneously the on-field umpire will signal for the review to the third umpire who will then take over from there.
Another very important thing to note is that the review has to be taken within 15 seconds from the time the umpire has given its decision of out or not out.
What is Umpire’s Call?
Now this umpire’s call is a bit complex but doesn’t worry we have you covered. umpires call mainly comes into effect in lbw and not in caught behind. For a batsman to get out lbw, 3 criteria need to be fulfilled, first ‘pitching inline/outside off’ means the ball when it touches the pitch, must not touch outside the leg stump. the second criterion is the impact meaning the immediate point of contact between the ball and the leg must be in line with the wicket and the 3rd criterion is the ball must go on to hit the wicket had the ball not hit the leg of the batsman.
Now it is important to note that the ball tracker which we see during the DRS is the ‘actual path through which the ball has come till the point it has hit the batsman’s leg and after that, it is an imaginary line that predicts the trajectory or the path where the ball should have gone after it has hit the leg of the batsman’. So, there is a ‘50% rule’ for DRS which states that more than 50% of the ball size has to be pitching in line more than 50% of the has to be in line with the wicket at the point of contact and more than 50% of the ball has to be hitting the wickets. if all the above 3 conditions are met then it is considered out and the decision is given accordingly that is if the umpire had given out then it would be revised as not out and vice versa.
Now, if the ball is pitching in line by less than 50% of its size or if the impact is in line with the wicket by less than 50% of the ball size, or if the ball hits the wicket by less than 50% of the ball size then it is considered to be umpires call that is the benefit of the doubt is given to the umpire and the decision of the umpire remains unchanged. an important point to note is the team taking the review doesn’t lose its review if the decision is based on the umpire’s call from the DRS.
Another important thing to note is, that there is no umpire’s call as such in caught behind as if the batsman has nicked the ball, the Snickometer will show a spike whenever the bat touches the ball which is clear evidence of out or not out.
Review Retained, Review Lost
As we discussed earlier, if the final decision is based on the umpire’s call then the team which reviews the decision doesn’t lose the review that is if they had 2 reviews prior to taking the DRS they will still have 2 reviews left post the DRS.
However, if any of the 3 conditions taking into account the 50% ball size rule for an lbw isn’t met properly then the bowling team will lose a review if they had taken the review simultaneously if all the 3 conditions are met then the batsman challenging the umpire’s decision of out will be given out and the batting team will lose a review.
What Doesn’t Come Under DRS?
It is important to note that DRS is known as ‘player’s review’. oftentimes you will see that the umpires themselves aren’t sure whether the batsman is out or not, especially in the case of a catch-out that has happened at quite a good distance from the umpire. in such a case, the on-field umpires may themselves take the help of 3rd umpire to reach the right decision. this is called an umpire’s review and this is not the case with DRS.
Also, very often you would see that the umpire has called a very legal delivery as wide or has mistakenly adjudged a below waist height ball as no ball or hasn’t called an above waist height ball no-ball.
Since each and every run matters in cricket, players would want these little things to go perfectly, and oftentimes when these wide and no balls aren’t given correctly, players do get upset and things do also get out of hand as recently we saw a match number 34 of IPL 2022 between Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals where the umpire didn’t give what seemed to be a clear no-ball as the ball was above waist height off Rovman Powell and the whole Delhi dugout got animated and Rishabh and even asked the players to leave the field.
Unfortunately, the DRS system is not applicable for no balls or wide balls. do you reckon that DRS should be implemented for no and wide balls as well?
Some Facts Related to DRS
If you’ve made it with us till this far, congratulations you now know everything about DRS! now let us wrap up this article with some cool facts regarding the DRS system.
- DRS was first introduced in cricket on 24th November 2009 during the first Test match between New Zealand and Pakistan at the University Oval stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand.
- In January 2011, DRS was first used in an ODI match between England and Australia when England was touring Australia.
- On October 1 2017 the epic’s cricket governing board ICC made DRS compulsory in T20Is as well.
Now, as we discussed earlier during the umpire’s call part, the ball tracker shown during the DRS for lbw is an imaginary line that predicts the trajectory or the path where the ball should have gone after it has hit the leg of the batsman, it is very likely the trajectory shown may be faulty or incorrect as well.
The best example of it is during the third Test match between South Africa and India that happened recently at the Newlands Cricket Ground when Dean Elgar’s decision was overturned leaving everyone shocked including the umpire Marais Erasmus who was heard uttering “that is impossible’ on the stump mic!
That’s all we have for you in this article, hope you now have good in-depth knowledge about DRS and enjoyed reading it as well.
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