Replays to call front foot no-balls to be trialled in India: Reports

The increasing dependency on technology has seen the umpiring standards being lowered which was spotted in the recently concluded ICC World Cup 2019 and even in the IPL 2019 before that. Umpires constantly missed the front foot no balls which had grave repercussions on the result of the matches. The poor quality of on-field umpiring was exposed on the world stage.

ICC finally took notice of it in their recent meeting in London. This was evident from the uproar caused during the Indian Premier League 2019 match between the eventual champions Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bengaluru. The on-field umpire failed to spot Lasith Malinga a front foot no-ball on what was to be the final delivery of the match and it proved decisive.

Expensive technology to be used

In their meeting in London, the ICC has decided to take notice of this issue, after BCCI requested to conduct trials of using technology for keeping an eye on the front foot no-balls. As per reports of Mumbai Mirror, the Indian domestic season will see the technology being used and if successful, will be extended to international matches played in the country as well.

“The ICC will do the trials and some of the trials will also take place in India,” an ICC official was quoted as saying by the Mumbai Mirror. Umpires have been missing front foot no balls on a regular basis, as most of the time, the front foot is checked when a wicket falls, but other times, it goes unnoticed.

However, ICC was earlier reluctant to employ the technology as it is very expensive to use it on a day-to-day basis during a match. The cost involved runs into thousands of dollars each day and when taken into consideration that no-balls only makeup roughly 0.5 per cent of the deliveries, there are very fewer chances of it being used. It would need the third umpire to keep an eye on each and every delivery bowled during the match, which is a tedious task.

The moment a bowler oversteps, the TV umpire will be called into action, as the decision will be replayed to him and he will make the final decision.