Virat Kohli might have supported the introduction of Decision Review System (DRS), but India’s dismal success ratio indicates that the Indian skipper hasn’t quite warmed up to the referral system yet.
The five-match England series against India was a start for India using the Umpire Decision Review System – something they had strong reservations during Mahendra Singh Dhoni's era under N Srinivasan's regime.
But in the seven Test matches since the start of DRS usage, India has got only 17 correct decisions out of the 55 referrals that they have taken. This comprises both batting and fielding statistic, and the success percentage comes to a mere 30.9 percent.
Batting Referrals More Accurate Than Fielding Ones
Certain referrals have appeared to be acts of desperation, like in the case with Murali Vijay and KL Rahul, wasting two reviews within the first six overs during the Pune Test. However, it eventually didn’t matter as the Indians were outplayed by the Aussies, but could have cost the hosts dearly had someone like Virat Kohli played a big innings and then got a raw deal.
The problem with India has been more to do with referrals while fielding where they have got only 10 correct out of 42 that they have taken in seven Test matches. While batting, it has been much better with 7 successful reviews out of 13 taken.
In Pune, India wasted all 4 reviews while fielding and got one correct out of the three while batting.
So it was one out of seven referrals. Only thrice have they have got more than two referrals correct in a single Test match.
Against England at Visakhapatnam, the hosts had 3 out of 9 correct referrals and 3 out of 10 in Chennai. The Bangladesh match at Hyderabad was a shade better with 5 out of 11 correct calls.
The final call for a fielding team's DRS rests with the captain. However, it’s the close in fielders, including wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha, who have fluffed their lines and failed to get their concepts right about umpire’s call.
Saha’s Inability to be Assertive
An umpire's call is rarely reversed in case of leg before referrals, even if any part of the ball is shown to slightly graze the bails in the 'Ball Tracking system'.
Wriddhiman has been a fabulous keeper for India but probably has not been able to assert his authority when Virat needs to take the final call. He once got it right in Hyderabad when the skipper was batting 180 plus and took his suggestion after being adjudged leg-before off Mehedi Hasan Miraz.
Wriddhiman had then felt that Kohli's long stride while defending means that the off-break may be missing leg. It turned out to be correct, and the skipper got his world record fourth double hundred.
But behind the stumps, Wriddhiman's suggestions haven’t always been correct.
‘DRS to Help Umpires’
Former India wicketkeeeper Deep Dasgupta, who is now an analyst, feels that one should get it clear that DRS is there to help the umpires rather than the players.
DRS should be strictly used for howlers. And it is a tool to help umpires be as accurate as possible. An umpire’s call should only be challenged in case of leg before if a player is absolutely sanguine that he has had an inside edge onto the pads.Deep Dasgupta
"Every batsman knows if he has had an edge or not. So if anyone thinks that ball tracker will help him, he should get the concept right. As far as fielding team's referrals are concerned, the wicketkeeper should be the DRS captain. He should be assertive, enough if need be to tell the skipper that don't go for it. The keeper's conviction makes it easier for the skipper," Dasgupta added.
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