Kolkata: Saturday’s meeting of the International Cricket Council (ICC) has brought a new set of challenges for the beleaguered BCCI. The international board has gone for a complete makeover in its revenue generation model, thus eliminating the scope of big three in the board, namely India, Australia and England.
While the BCCI strictly voted against this decision of the ICC, but could only gather support from the not so influential Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. Majority of the members voted for equal share in the board and a new way to govern International Cricket.
Due to this restructure, there has been made a few changes in the cricketing gameplay. Also, the process through which teams will qualify to play the ICC organised championships is going to change. While this may not bring an overall impact in the matches being played, but one decision of the board is likely to affect the shortest format of Cricket, the T20.
On Saturday, when the ICC was undergoing some milestone modification in its system, the board agreed to a consistent use of the Decision Review System (DRS) in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy. But the board also made the DRS applicable in the next World T20, where each teams would be given one review each. This may be an indirect response of the board to the England team, which recently complained of wrong umpiring.
This may look good theoretically and in papers, the impact of DRS is known to us. It is taken by the teams when they feel that they should challenge the decision of the on field umpire. While this is completely fine in the longer formats of the games, the twenty overs cricket matches are very lucratively dependent on the umpiring. Experts believe that it is more of batting conditions that make an impact on these kind of games, than that of the umpire’s decision. They also believe that, just as batting in worse conditions is tough, so is umpiring.
But the main factor when it comes to T20 cricket, is the momentum of the game. T20 was formed keeping in mind the enjoyment and thrill associated with the game of cricket. It has always aimed to showcase entertainment over classic techniques to the spectators. Introducing a DRS in the game would mean a complete breakdown of the momentum of the game which will be worse, if not devastating.
Unarguably, T20 cricket is not the cup of tea for the classic cricket lovers. It is mainly meant for the mass public who do not have the patience to see a 5 day test match or a 50 overs game. This is the reason why we see stadiums flocked with spectators in an IPL game, while it remains almost empty in the 2nd or 3rd day of a test match. People come over to witness the thrill and the glamour associated with the game. In such circumstances, the DRS will be nothing but a spoiler.
On the economic side, experts have termed this decision to bring in DRS to the T20’S as foolish. The DRS technology doesn’t come at an affordable price. It is enticingly costly. Hence, introducing such technology in a not so much umpire dependent game may not be a very wise move by the ICC.