Sachin Tendulkar Favours UDRS With Hot Spot, Snickometer

Although it appears that the doors have been shut on the Umpire Decision Review System for the India England series, it would seem that the opposition is not entirely unanimous or completely opposed to the use of technology in sport. Sachin Tendulkar clarified his stance.

Sachin Tendulkar

Earlier it was the assumed thought that the BCCI and the Indian cricketers were in agreement that the UDRS was not something that India would prefer. It was also considered that some of the senior cricketers had a strong influence and opinion on the subject and that was influential in the decision of whether or not India would experiment anytime soon with the technology at cricket’s disposal. Amongst those voices that did not support the UDRS included Sachin Tendulkar and more vociferously that of the Indian captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

While Dhoni was not in agreement that the UDRS was a hundred percent fool proof or that the umpires’ decision had not brought the human element even in the decision using the UDRS, his problems were compounded during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 with the Ian Bell decision that left the ICC and the BCCI at loggerheads with the latter defending Dhoni.

However, Tendulkar breaks it down to the critical issue when he has not been entirely in favour of the UDRS. In his opinion, the UDRS is incomplete without incorporating the technology available to be used in the sport. The Hot Spot has been a favourite amongst many of the international cricketers and Sachin Tendulkar was no different in suggesting that the UDRS would only be complemented by using the thermal imaging that would reveal the point of impact of ball on either bat or pad.

Another technological innovation that Tendulkar wants built into the UDRS is the Snickometer which has been around for sometime but for some reason, has not been wholly accepted by boards and broadcasters. The Snickometer provides the sound at the point of impact, enabling umpires to gauge the nature of the impact and thereby, draw the decision accordingly, avoiding the situation where the bat may not have been involved in a bat pad decision.

Tendulkar is firmly of the opinion that the UDRS as it stands is incomplete and unless there is a better solution to the technological advancement that with the addition of the two inventions, the Hawk Eye will continue to draw controversies all by itself.

India have been the strongest opponents of the technology and their refusal to trial the system has called for more thought processes to get into the reasons why one section of the cricket world has been against adapting to the modern amenities available to the sport.

Although it is unclear how the eventual evolution of the UDRS will be affected by the opinion of the world’s leading batsmen in contemporary cricket, what is clear though is that the decision by the board will not change which basically means that Tendulkar’s opinions can only serve as insight for those behind the technology.