England captain Ben Stokes has urged for a reevaluation of the Decision Review System (DRS) following a contentious lbw decision during the side’s defeat in the third Test against India in Rajkot. Zak Crawley, the batter in question, contested Kumar Dharmasena’s decision to dismiss him lbw to Jasprit Bumrah, opting for a review. However, despite the projected path suggesting the ball would miss the top of leg-stump, Zak Crawley was left frustrated as the decision stood.
The 434-run loss is England’s biggest defeat (by the margin of runs) since Ben Stokes took over as the side’s Test captain. The visitors folded inside merely two sessions on Day 4, scoring only 122 in the 557-run chase after India’s batting order, led by young guns Yashaswi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, and Shubman Gill, wrecked havoc on the visitors and England captain Ben Stokes seemed to be irked on umpiring decisions post this humungous loss.
Ben Stokes calls for DRS to scrap umpire’s call post 434 drubbing vs India at Rajkot
Ben Stokes has called for the Decision Review System (DRS) to scrap umpire’s call after England were left bemused by Zak Crawley’s second-innings dismissal in their defeat in the third Test against India in Rajkot.
Crawley reviewed Kumar Dharmasena’s decision to give him out lbw to Jasprit Bumrah in the ninth over but left the field incensed, believing the predicted path showed the ball would be missing the top of leg stump. It was the second time Crawley has been on the receiving end of a marginal DRS call, after being adjudged leg before against Kuldeep Yadav in Visakhapatnam following a review from Rohit Sharma. Stokes called the decision “wrong” at the time.
The England captain was seen alongside head coach Brendon McCullum seeking clarification from match referee Jeff Crowe after England’s 434-run loss. Speaking at stumps, Stokes said he was told the error was with the image produced, which showed the projected path of the ball just missing the top of leg stump. Hawk-Eye confirmed to Stokes the calculations themselves were correct, which predicted enough contact with leg stump to stay with the on-field decision.
Speaking to media after the match, Stokes said he admits umpires’ job is quite hard and that the ambiguities need to be removed. The Durham all-rounder stated, as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo:
“We’ve been on the wrong end of three umpire’s calls this game and that is part of DRS. You’re either on the right side or the wrong side. Unfortunately, we’ve been on the wrong side. You just want a level playing field. The umpires have an incredibly hard job as it is, especially in India when the ball is spinning.”
“My personal opinion is if the ball is hitting the stumps, it is hitting the stumps. They should take away ‘umpire’s call’ if I’m being perfectly honest. I don’t want to get too much into it because it sounds like we are moaning and saying that is why we lost the Test match.”
England’s No. 3 Ollie Pope also seemed to be dissatisfied with the decision to give him out in the first innings in Rajkot as the ball-tracking showed it was hitting leg-stump despite the ball striking the right-hander above the knee-roll.
Ben Stokes on Match referee’s decision after the match.
Stokes also said that he didn’t quite understand the referee’s explanation after the match, adding:
“It came back saying the numbers, or whatever it is that is, it was saying that it was hitting the stumps but it was the projection that was wrong. I don’t know what that means. Something’s gone wrong, so, yeah. I’m not saying and never will say that’s the reason why we’ve lost this game, because 500 is a lot of runs. It is not something you pin down to result of the game. Sometimes when you are on the wrong end of those decisions it hurts but that is part of the game.”
England had paid the price for their poor batting performance on the third morning as they collapsed form 224-2 to 319 to concede a 126-run lead. With a steep target of 557 to win in the fourth innings, the tourists were bundled out for 122 and crashed to a 434-run loss.
Ben Stokes, England’s captain, has promised that his team will park the disappointment of their crushing 434-run loss in the third Test in Rajkot, and move onto Ranchi later this week fully focused on bouncing back to claim a 3-2 series victory. England need to win the last two Tests to clinch the series, with India leading the five-match series 2-1. It will be interesting to see if they make changes to their playing XI for the fourth Test against India, which will start on February 23.