'Technology will be consistently inaccurate' - Tendulkar wants ICC to do away with Umpire's Call in DRS

Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has been a lifelong observer of the game, and continues to do so, even 12 years into his international retirement. Tendulkar keeps himself updated on the latest rules, change in playing conditions, and has a keen eye on cricket matches around the world, especially those played by the Indian team. In an interaction on social media platform Reddit, Tendulkar has said that the Umpire's Call in the Decision Review System (DRS) should be done away with.

During an open interaction, the 52-year-old invited for queries on his official Reddit handle and a fan asked what rule from cricket he would like to have changed. The cricketer was prompt to respond that DRS, which has been implemented with heavy use of technology, and has had its fallacies. As a result, whenever ball tracking displays umpire's call, the decision should be made solely on the basis of whether the trajectory shows the ball hitting the wickets. 

“I would change the DRS rule on Umpire’s Call. Players have chosen to go upstairs because they were unhappy with the on-field Umpire’s Call. Hence, there should be no option to go back to that call. Just like how players have bad patches, umpires too have bad patches. Technology even when inaccurate will be consistently inaccurate,” Sachin said on the famous social media forum.

This wasn't the first time that the batting stalwart had opined his views on the Umpire's Call ruling. During a previous chat with West Indian legend Brian Lara, Tendulkar had advocated for the DRS calls going in favour of the fielding side for calls involving Leg Before Wicket (lbw) dismissals. He had urged the International Cricket Council to have calls in favour of the bowlers in a batter-dominated sport.

“One thing I don’t agree with, with the ICC, is the DRS they’ve been using for quite some time. It is the LBW decision where more than 50% of the ball must be hitting the stumps for the on-field decision to be overturned. The only reason they (the batter or the bowler) have gone upstairs is because they are unhappy with the on-field decision, so when the decision goes to the third umpire, let the technology take over; just like in tennis – it’s either in or out, there’s nothing in between,” he had said in a video chat with West Indian luminary Brian Lara.

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For the trivia, Sachin Tendulkar is the first cricketer in history to be declared out by the third umpire. Making his debut during the late 1980s, the Mumbai-born has seen multiple transitional phases, and thus, it will be interesting to see if ICC actually takes his advice into account.